Level 1
by ginobi47
Summary: No Guild. No Items. No Level. And thus begin the adventure of a man who has absolutely nothing into an unfamiliar world
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Level 1

-:-

" _Well… Shit"_ -?-

These were the first words that escaped from Vacio's lips as he stood in the middle of a valley covered in light mist.

He was confused….

No… confusion would be an insult to the chaos that was happening within his mind

" _WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!"_ –Vacio-

He was pretty damn sure he wasn't in a valley a few seconds earlier. If he could recall correctly, he was in the underground "Midgard City" where all newly created Human players start out.

Vacio was once an avid player of Yggdrasil but real life circumstances forced him to reluctantly quit the game. Seeing how he was never going to get an opportunity to play the game again, he decided to sell his fairly high spec character for a decent sum of money.

All those years spent on Yggdrasil went down the drain.

He cried a fair bit after that.

One does not simply sink thousands of hours into a game and not develop a strong attachment to it.

However, 6 months later, he received news that Yggdrasil would be ending its service.

Due to the difficulty of getting internet service in his current location, he needed 3 days before he could log in to Yggdrasil one last time. He able to log in one hour prior to the server shutdown.

He spent the last hour walking around the Shadow City while reminiscing the good old days. He tried PMing his old comrades, but sadly no one was playing anymore. It was understandable considering that everyone had more important priorities in life.

Even Vacio had more important things than wasting one hour within Yggdrasil. Due to his last minute schedule change, he was forced to ditch work in order to say farewell to his beloved Yggdrasil.

He was pretty sure his boss will bitch slap him the next time they meet, but he wasn't going to miss out on sending off the game that has been part of his life for so many years.

Since he already sold his original account, he created a new one for the sole purpose of reminiscing the past.

And now, he was in current predicament.

No matter how much he tried to search his memories, he didn't remember logging out, thus it was safe to assume that he was still in the game. However, this theory was quickly disproven because he could not access any of the menus that were normally within the game.

Not only that, he could smell the grass covered in the early morning dew. He could feel the cool gentle wind brush against his skin. He picked some grass and ate it... and it actually tastes like dirt!

No matter how advanced computer technology has become, it was still impossible for virtual reality to completely replicate the five senses. The hardware required to emulate the senses perfectly would probably take up a space equal to an entire building. Even if the technology does exist, strict government laws unilaterally banned such things from ever hitting cyberspace.

This was in order to avoid a "Sword Art Online" incident. No company was exempted from this rule. It goes without saying that Yggdrasil was also forced to follow these guidelines.

For this reason, Vacio completely ruled out the possibility that he was in the rumored Yggdrasil 2. If he was, his senses wouldn't be as realistic as he was experiencing right now.

"I was transported into a fantasy world? Impossible…" –Vacio-

However, there was one irrefutable proof that he was indeed in a fantasy world…. And that was his body

The PC Vacio, similar to his original PC, was of the Human race. The PC he created was a slightly altered version of one of the premade templates. The template was that of an old man with dark gray crew cut hair, light brown skin and a muscular build was the original template. He added some bits and pieces but the general look didn't change.

Aside from the muscular build and hip hairstyle, the template was a fairly good representation of Vacio.

However, his current body didn't reflect the character he created a few minutes ago. His general look remained was there, but the size and body structure was that of a 13 year old kid.

Why?

He didn't know.

He really would like to know but the answers were beyond him.

If he knew that this was going to happen to him, he would have made his hair black! Now he was stuck with dark gray hair. A kid with such hair color was weird beyond words.

That mystery can be explored at a later date. He needed to do something before anything.

In order to be absolutely sure that he was indeed in a fantasy world, he decided to take the ultimate test. He approached a fairly big rock that happened to be nearby. He gathered all of his will power, and with the aim of a sniper, he smashed his toe into the rock.

"GODF*CKINGDAMNF*CKINGJAUNCLAUDVANF*CKINGDAMN! COCKF*CKINGMOTHERF*CKINGASSF*CK!" –Vacio-

Pain was one of the senses that were completely removed from modern day DMMORPGs. Quite simply, no sane gamer would play a game that would cause them physical agony. It was bad for business and it was potentially fatal.

Imagine the pain of having a sword driven into your gut. Some people would die simply from experiencing the pain alone.

While Vacio didn't really need to subject his poor toe to such pains, it was necessary that he experienced enough agony to completely remove the theory that he was still within a DMMORPG.

Pain is bad for business. All DMMORPGs are businesses. If a certain mechanism hinders them from earning money, it would be replaced or removed ASAP.

He rolled around for a few seconds while cursing every god he could think of for his idiotic actions.

Eventually he calmed down somewhat and began analyzing his situation.

First and foremost, he unintentionally shot himself in the leg.

If his body was an equivalent of the character he created a few minutes ago, that meant he had no armor, no money, no items, no level and no advantage.

If this was an RPG world, he has successfully royally screwed himself months ago.

No one could have possibly predicted being dragged into a fantasy world after their favorite game goes offline permanently.

If he knew this was going to happen, he would have never sold his old account.

" _*sigh* …. No use crying over spilled milk. My first priority is to stay alive… man... It's been more than 4 decades since I last flexed my boyscout muscles. I hope I'm not too rusty. "_ -Vacio-

For everyone's info, Vacio was probably one of the oldest players in Yggdrasil. At the moment, he was already a few years above the retirement age and was still very much active in the gaming industry until his job suddenly went into overdrive.

Sounds unbelievable?

Not really.

If a child grew up in a home with at least 1 parent that was a video game enthusiast, it wouldn't be surprising if the child would follow the parent's footsteps.

Vacio was such a person.

He did stop playing video games after getting married and having a child, but he went back after a painful divorce and nearly everything he owned taken away from him by his whore-of-a-wife.

Ex-wife left him for a younger, more attractive man.

Well, Vacio didn't age gracefully, so he kind of understood Ex-wife's motivation. He would even part with her in peaceful terms if she didn't go for the money grab with the divorce. While he didn't really suffer that much and simply returned to his minimalistic lifestyle during his early years, the very idea that his years of savings evaporated in an instant was a low blow.

While Vacio was pissed off and wanted to slowly feed Ex-wife into a grinder, he was the winner in the end.

Ex-wife's rampant sexual escapades eventually led to one of the most dreaded disease known to man: AIDS

Even if she was drop dead gorgeous, very few came to her rescue when they discovered she had AIDS. While her parents did help a little, they were simply did not have the financial resources to shell out.

Vacio was a pilot for a commercial airline. Even if ex-wife took a large chunk of his bank account, he was able to earn back some of his financial might. It was also the main reason why ex-wife came to him in her darkest hour.

It was gratifying how ex-wife begged for him to help her. Watching her grovel was one of the highlights of Vacio's life.

Did he help her?

Heavens no!

After her legally getting away with robbery? No way in hell!

He gave her a home and money for food, but that was the most she got out of him. While he did love her once upon a time, he viewed her as his most hated enemy.

At her death bed, Vacio was the only one there. They didn't even talk. Vacio was only there to watch her die.

When she asked for forgiveness, he replied "Go to Hell"

That was the last time they ever spoke before ex-wife croaked. She was cremated and her remains were sent to her family.

Cruel?

Yes it was.

But after losing nearly everything he worked for just because his ex-wife preferred a more handsome husband, there was no way Vacio would be able to forgive ex-wife.

But then again, that was more than 30 years ago. Ancient history.

The freedom he gained after that was so great that it was shocking.

No wonder people call marriage as a 'ball-n-chain'. Once the shackles came off, the liberation was so good that it was scary.

The only real downside of the whole affair was his relationship with his child. Naturally, the kid hated Vacio's guts for not doing more to save ex-wife. They never spoke to each other since then.

While Vacio loved his child very much, he couldn't help but laugh at the kid's utter lack of life experience. Vacio was sure that the brat would eventually see the light after the years rolled by.

Until then, Vacio worked hard and played even harder. He went back to his computer gaming ways…. And that's how he landed in this particular situation.

Vacio did some stretches and a bit of running at top speed to check his body's condition. True enough, this was clearly not his old 60+ years old body. He didn't feel any of the joint pains and backaches that tormented him for years.

He didn't feel exhausted despite all of the running he did.

Hell, he was pretty sure that a kid his current body's age couldn't run as fast and as long as he just did.

He still had a fair bit of doubts of being transported in a fantasy world because it simply sounded stupid and impossible. However, a body that was clearly not his was making the idiotic theory look like fact.

Either way, survival was top priority.

Like any civilized person, Vacio needed to secure food, water and shelter.

It didn't take him long to find food. He was in a fairly thick forest and only had to walk a few minutes before stumbling on some unfamiliar looking berries of sorts.

He wasn't sure if they were safe just by looking at them. He racked his brain for any info regarding eating unknown food, but sadly, the knowledge has long been forgotten.

With no way of testing the safety level of the berries, Vacio decided that a stable source of food was worth the risk of food poisoning. The berries were available in large quantities, thus he would really love if the berries became part of his food stocks.

He ate a mouthful and moved on. If he was fine after a few hours, then he could live off the berries for a few days. If his experiences stomach aches later on, then he could only blame himself for his stupidity.

Water was surprisingly easy to find as well. Maybe because there was barely any noise in the calm forest, Vacio was able to hear the sound of flowing water. The river was fairly big in size and the current was calm. Perfect for fishing.

The last thing was shelter. Now this was a bit of a pickle.

Caves were out of the question.

While they were ideal shelters for humans, same logic also applied to animals. An empty cave might be a beast's lair with its owner currently out. If the beast returns while a human was sleeping inside, the beast gets a free meal.

Vacio decided the best approach was to make camp on top of a tree.

While the risk of falling a few feet and breaking a couple of bones was present, the height allowed him to stay clear of most animals that could easily maul him to death. He just hoped that the animals in this forest were not capable of climbing trees.

He gathered some branches and fairly strong rope-like vines. He tied the branches and pulled them up a large solid looking tree. He then made a makeshift nest by tying branches and vines together.

The simple nest took him 7 hours of effort but it was all worth it in the end. It was slow and sloppy work, but he was quite proud of it. He was no handyman nor possessed any skill in making things by hand, but the quality of the nest was more than what a complete amateur survivalist could have ever hope to make.

Next thing on the to-do list was making fire.

He gathered some dried branches, tinder and a few rocks. By striking to rocks together to make a spark, he was able to start a fire with a bit of effort.

Being a fan of survival shows paid off in spades. His favorite was Man VS Wild even though he knew quite a bit of it was faked.

Last but not the least, he wanted to eat meat!

Since he wasn't experiencing any bowel pains, he was pretty sure that the berries weren't poisonous. Their large availability ensured that he wouldn't go hungry any time soon.

However, he wants meat!

Why?

Because he is a MAN!

MAN = MEAT!

MEAT = MAN!

Those of the male gender who doesn't it meat are not MEN!

However, he had to be realistic.

For the past few hours, he hasn't met a single beast or monster. He could count this as a blessing since the work on his temporary home went uninterrupted.

However, there was a downside to this peace as well. Due to the lack of any encounters, he wasn't able to gather any info on any of the wildlife.

What if a lowly rabbit was actually strong enough to kick his ass? Not only would it hurt his body, it would also hurt his pride. Can you imagine someone having his ass handed to him by a cute fluffy creature?

Vacio would probably curl up into fetal position and quietly fade from existence.

Pride aside, he was pretty sure that there were countless beasts that he had no knowledge off that could easily tear him to shreds

And so, he decided to try something he has never done before…. Fishing.

He made a makeshift fishing rod with a branch and the thin vine that he used earlier. The hook was a rock that he chipped into shape. It wasn't pretty but it was durable enough

He went back to the river he spotted earlier and chose a spot where there were no signs of animals. He casted a line and after 10 minutes….

"This is hopeless…."

As you'd expect of someone who has never done this activity before, Vacio had no patience on the meditative sport of fishing.

He was fine with making stuff out of raw materials. At the very least, he could slowly see his efforts pay off.

However, the idea of doing nothing except wait for the fishes to bite was torture.

There was the big possibility that he chose a crappy fishing spot. His woeful lack of knowledge in the art of fishing was the prime contributor to this. Never the less, he had no patience in learning through experience.

Fishing was like watching paint dry, except fishing was done in the wild.

And besides, he had no time to waste on fishing. He had more important things to do. For now, he drank from the river in order to quench his thirst.

As he began packing up, he spotted a sight that blew all his 'transported-into-another-world' doubts away.

On the other side of the river was a white horse drinking from the river. It looked like any other horse, except every hair on its body was made of fire. The fire burned fiercely yet it didn't look like the horse was in any sort of pain.

As the horse bent down to take a sip from the river, its fiery red hair touched the water. Steam resulted in the collision between its hair and the water. This was a bit of an annoyance to the stallion since the water evaporated as the he drank.

Suddenly, a large 9 headed hydra popped out of the water and attacked the fiery stallion. It conflict didn't even last a second as the hydra quickly dragged the horse into the water.

"….Holy…."Vacio-

Any desire of taking a bath in the river was quickly flushed down the toilet. While cleanliness was one of Vacio's primary desires, he was not going to risk being hydra food just so he could smell a little better.

As to why the hydra didn't attack Vacio while he was drinking, it was probably because the horse was a more scrumptious meal. Vacio's 13 year old body wasn't even an appetizer.

"*sigh*…. Looks like I really am in a fantasy world…. Damn it"-Vacio-

He made his return to his makeshift nest as quietly and stealthy as possible.

The sudden display of fantasy violence made Vacio a bit jumpy. He wasn't sure what else lurked within the misty forest, and he was sure hell not excited at the prospect of meeting any of them.

He grabbed whatever fruit on the way and quickly made his way back to the nest.

He put out the fire he painstakingly started out of the fear of attracting god knows what monsters were in the forest.

For his peace of mind, he made a weapon. He chipped a rock until it had a sharp edge and tied it to a decently tough branch. The end result was a primitive javelin. He made 5 javelins for good measure.

It wasn't much, but it was definitely better than nothing.

He climbed back up the tree and tried to get some rest. He maintained a constant state of alert while eating his berries.

So far, no fantasy creatures approached his little adobe. Thank god.

As the sun began to set, the prolonged state of paranoia has taxed his mental endurance a fair bit. While he was still terrified of a sudden encounter, he decided to get some shut eye to calm his grating nerves.

As Vacio began his journey to the realm of dreams, a familiar image popped into his mind that blew exhaustion right out of him.

He sat up straight and wondered if that was just an illusion from exhaustion. Once again he relaxed himself and closed his eyes.

On que, the familiar image was right there.

It was Yggdrasil's character status page screen!

 **Name** : Vacio

 **Alignment** : Neutral

 **Sense of Jutice** : 0

 **Racial Level** : None

 **Job Level** : Novice- lvl 1

 **HP** : 3

 **MP** : 3

 **Phy. Atk** : 3

 **Phy. Def** : 3

 **Agility** : 3

 **Mag Atk** : 3

 **Mag Def** : 3

 **Resist** : 3

 **Special** : 3

It was the typical starting stats of the Human Race. It was balanced evenly on all areas with no particular strong point or weakness.

The Novice Class was nothing more than a placeholder class with no skills or abilities. Everyone starts as a Novice before changing to another class after getting enough experience for a level up.

At the moment, Vacio's EXP bar stated that he had enough exp to go up to level 4. Going up 4 levels in one go might look amazing, but that was actually quite slow in Yggdrasil standards.

Leveling Up in Yggdrasil was extremely easy! This was more apparent in the low levels.

A normal player with no experience in Yggdrasil can go straight up to level 15-20 in a single day. An experienced Yggdrasil player can go up to 25-30 without any outside help. Those who had friends that were willing to help them level up could reach 35-40 in a single day.

Now this was assuming that the player didn't perform any exp sacrificing rituals, didn't die (minus 5 levels + item drop) and concentrated on leveling up for at least 8 hours.

The 4 levels Vacio attained in his first day was pitifully slow in comparison.

However, a question popped up in Vacio's mind.

" _How did I get 4 levels worth of EXP?"_ –Vacio-

There are 4 ways to gain EXP in Yggdrasil: Manufacturing, Learning New Lore, Killing Monsters, Quests.

The slowest one was Manufacturing. This included blacksmithing, armorsmithing, enchantment, alchemy, leatherworks, cooking, harvesting herbs, mining, etc. The more complex the item you are creating, the larger the experience gained.

Sadly, Manufacturing was time consuming and resource intensive, thus making it the most cost inneficient method of gaining exp.

Learning New Lore was faster than manufacturing. All the player needed to do was go around and see new sights, encounter new monsters, taste unfamiliar food, talk to new npcs, go through the ever expanding story of Yggdrasil, etc. In short, just go on an adventure!

The EXP gained from Lore Hunting was quite big.

Sadly, once you have attained a specific Lore, you'll never gain EXP from the same Lore ever again. While Learning New Lore was fun, it was also time consuming to traverse the massive Yggdrasil maps.

Killing Monsters has been the bread and butter of all RPGs since the pen and paper days. It goes without saying that Yggdrasil was no exception to this. It gives an immediate gratification of EXP and items to the player, thus making the grind as one of the most popular EXP earning methods.

However, Killing Monsters was still not the fastest and most efficient method for leveling up.

That crown was held by Quests.

If you look at the Quest rewards alone, it wouldn't be surprising of most people would prefer the killing monster method because Quests are time consuming and their rewards are slightly less of what you get if you simply grinded the entire time.

However, Yggdrasil was a game that encouraged people to explore the vastness of the world. Doing Quests was the games incentive to the players.

The main reason why Questing was the fastest leveling up mechanism in Yggdrasil was not because of the EXP reward (which was still fairly big) but because of the things you had to do in order to complete the quest.

More often than not, a single Quest would employ 2 or more of the previously mention leveling methods.

Simple fetch quests would force the player to go to unfamiliar locations, kill monsters, harvest/mine for items and meet new NPCs for the first time.

The more complicated the Quest is, the larger the reward it has in the end.

Quests may not give the instant gratification that Killing Monsters offer, however, the little EXPs and items along the way add up into something much larger than what a regular grind could accomplish.

In Vacio's case, it was probably a combination of the Manufacturing, Lore and Quest.

Since there was no Quest Log, he could only make theories.

He didn't take out any monsters so monster hunting was out of the picture.

The fishing rod, makeshift nest and spears were technically crafting, so that could be it.

Learning New Lore… if he thought about it, he was in a world where he knew nothing about. Pretty much everything in this world was as good as lore to him.

And then there were the Quests.

There was no way he could get 4 levels worth of EXP with only crafting and lore alone. Quests were the only ones that could give him such large EXPs to justify the 4 levels.

Building a home, securing food and making weapons. If he considered those 3 as separate quests, gaining 4 levels was within reason. That's how easy the grind was at low levels in Yggdrasil.

Sadly, this isn't Yggdrasil so he cant be sure.

Never the less, he was surprised and excited for the possibility of leveling up.

If this was a 'game-like world' based on Yggdrasil, then his years' worth of knowledge would serve him well.

Without further ado, he decided to level up. As if reacting to his thoughts, the screen changed into the classes that he can change into. And true to Yggdrasil fashion, there were a dizzying number of them.

Vacio was the type of player that would make multiple PCs in order to experience different playstyles. Naturally, this result in delaying the rise to power of all his PCs. In testament to this, Vacio had 13 PCs with different classes and various experimental builds.

Out of the 13, only 6 were viable in high level gameplay. Out of the 6, only 2 were able to reach the point where they could be called 'Strong'.

Mind you, none of Vacio's PCs could be crowned as the 'strongest' in anything. However, those 2 PCs could perform their assigned role at an expert level.

Vacio wanted to choose a primary class and playstyle that would work well in his current situation. Given that he has no idea what exactly his situation is, he wanted to be versatile enough to be able to function no matter what shit he would eventually land in.

With that in mind, there were 4 classes that fitted the bill.

Bard, Cleric, Druid and Ranger

He decided to remove the Rouge from the list due to its weak survivability. While the Rouge had stealth and many miscellaneous abilities, it was lacking in survivability. It lacked armor at the early levels and the inability to heal itself was a big minus.

Vacio wasn't sure what he was up against in the early levels, thus every bit of survivability was required.

The Druid was out as well. Druids, like any Magic Casters, were only strong when they have MP. The second they lose it, they become over glorified punching bags.

This weakness was not as apparent in high level combat due to the many skills and abilities the Druid can use to compensate. In low levels, however, any Magic Caster immediately runs empty after a few shots.

Magic Caster's overwhelming (and extremely cool) might was not a good tradeoff for early level survivability.

That leaves the Cleric and the Bard.

Sadly, the Cleric was out.

The Cleric was one of the last builds Vacio attempted. The highest level he was able to get his Cleric was at the mid 40s because he started concentrating on his 2 PCs that was able to become strong.

His knowledge of Clerics was severely lacking and he didn't have the confidence to perform a successful experiment in his current predicament.

And all that's left was one of the 2 classes that he had complete confidence in: the Bard.

Out of all the PCs he had created, the most successful were his Bard and his Priest.

His most powerful PC was his Priest that was built on the idea of the 'ideal full support' build. Every class and every item was specially selected to outlast anyone in the healing field. He may not have the strongest burst heal, but his massive mana pool can keep his team alive for a loooooooooooooong time. With many buffs and crowd control skills in the repertoire, he was unofficially one of the top 20 supports in Yggdrasil.

Naturally, his Priest had quite a few weaknesses.

For one, he was extremely fragile. While he had a few 'panic button' skills, it wouldn't take much to beat him into a bloody pulp.

Another one of his many weaknesses was his subpar offense. As you'd expect of a full support character, his DPS was laughable. While his usefulness in a party allowed him to level up at a rapid pace, he had no hope going solo.

With this in mind, Vacio completely removed the Priest from his choices despite his mastery of it.

And besides, Priests were like any other Magic Caster at low levels. Their offense was non-existent once they burned through their MP. For the Priest class that was naturally not offense oriented, this was a fatal weakness.

He could change his build, but once again, he had no confidence in trying an experiment in his current situation.

And that's how he decided on the Bard.

The Bard was his very first PC in Yggdrasil. This meant that his understanding for the class outstripped even that of his Priest. Sadly, since the Bard was his first PC, this was also the time when he had absolutely no idea on builds, min-maxing or how Yggdrasil worked.

The Bard was his experimental hotbed and a pitiful mess of a PC.

However, he accidentally became strong due to a few classes that somehow synergized with each other.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Vacio's other builds came from the accidental discoveries made from the Bard. Even his full support Priest came from the Bard.

Vacio did plan to make a proper Bard build in the past, however, his curiosity for other classes got the better of him. Along with IRL situations, the idea of making a proper Bard build got delayed even further.

" _I guess there's no time like the present"_ –Vacio

He took the Bard class and learned a few skills and spells.

In Yggdrasil, any PC with some Magic Caster abilities can learn 3 spells per level. The number of spells could be increased if the player performed an EXP sacrificing ritual. Sadly, that required the player to be at a certain level and have an evil alignment.

He wasn't sure if the alignment system still worked, but if it did, he would definitely go down the evil path. There were just too many benefits of being bad.

The 3 spells he learned were Light Heal, Message and Lesser Strength.

All were fairly weak but that's to be expected from the lowest tier of Bardic Magic.

The following 2 classes where merely stepping stones for more powerful versions of them down the road.

He took up the Fighter class just for the weapon and armor proficiencies. This meant that he was able to wield nearly every weapons and armors except for the class specific ones (grimoire, voodoo dolls, etc)

The other class he took up was the Alchemist. Aside from crafting the all-important healing potions, high level Alchemist also had access to the 'Transmutation' aka 'turning one stuff into something completely different'. This ability was extremely important in the crafting of weapons and armors.

The last class he took up in order to replace his Novice class was another level of his favorite Bard class. He added 3 more spells to his repertoire: Minor Heal, Disorienting Noise and Resistance

He reviewed his stats, skills and magic one last time before making his choices permanent. Satisfied with his current loadout, he decided to get some much needed sleep.

-:-

THE NEXT DAY

' _What the-? It's morning already?!'_ –Vacio-

He was probably that tired. Mental fatigue was just as exhausting as physical fatigue. Fearing for one's life for hours on end can do that to a person.

After making sure that the area was safe, he jumped down his nest and began testing out his new abilities…. Or at least he wanted to make sure that he didn't hallucinate all of it due to paranoia and stress.

Immediately his worries were found unnecessary when one of the Bard's signature skills started working: Bardic Lore.

Information flowed into his mind simply by looking at stuff. The berries he ate earlier were named 'Animals Droppings' because it is exactly what it looks like. Fortunately, Vacio has a fairly strong stomach. Eating things that look like something ejected from someone's backside.

It was like the spell 'Identify' was constantly active.

He took a look at the Javelin he made and was surprised of the description.

Item Name: Javelin made by Vacio

Item Rank: Low

Item Quality: Shit

" _WELL IM SORRY FOR MY SHITTY SMITHING SKILLS!"_ –Vacio-

Well…. at least the item description has a sense of humor.

Another experiment he performed was to make more of javelins. Much to his surprise, thanks to the Alchemist class, the 5 additional javelins he made with the same materials resulted in a much better quality. It actually looked like a professionally made weapon instead of a tree branch with a sharpened rock at the tip.

Not only that, Vacio finished the javelins in 10 minutes unlike the 1 hour+ that he spent on the first set.

How is that possible?

No clue.

His hands just moves at insane speed with insane precision.

Now that's out of the way, Vacio decided to head out and explore his environment. It would be counterproductive if he simply stayed hidden and expect everything would be alright.

However, with no idea where to go or how to even get there, Vacio decided to use video game logic to set his course.

In these types of scenarios, going to an inn or an adventurer's guild would be ideal. That's just how these 'transported into a game-like fantasy world' genres work.

However, his starting spot was anything but safe. The only choice was to go to town.

Where was the nearest town?

Historically, all civilizations start near bodies of water. No one can survive a day without water. This was a fact.

And so, Vacio decided to follow the river that he saw earlier. He wasn't sure if it would actually lead to a town, but it was better than wondering aimlessly.

For the next 2 hours, he stayed near enough the river to keep it in sight, but far enough to avoid any potential violent encounters.

His decision was right on the money because he saw a few monsters beating each other to death near the river. The most shocking was a stag with zebra stripes mauling 3 gorillas with bloody impunity.

Vacio wasn't sure what level they were at, but he was pretty sure a level 4 like him wouldn't even be a warm up.

He stayed in the shadows just to be safe.

Another hour of nerve grinding nature walk passed and he finally saw the first signs of civilization.

It was a simple dirt road, but it was a road never the less.

He was finally making progress.

He followed the road for about 30 minutes before he entered the cruel introduction of this brutal new world.

10 meters from his hiding spot was a damaged carriage with a few bodies of varying age, gender and race littered around it.

Most of the bodies, about 10 of them, belonged to the oh so familiar goblin race.

3 other corpses belonged to what seemed to be humans. 1 male and 2 female. They were beaten and stabbed to death.

Aside from those, there were 5 living goblins that were pinning down a naked female. The goblins were doing what monsters do and violating the lone female.

Vacio was tempted to just simply sneak away and never look back. This may sound heartless but logically speaking, the best course of action was to leave the female to her fate.

Vacio was outnumbered and he wasn't sure if his enemies were at the level that he could handle. If he went in and save the girl, odds are, he was going to be surrounded and beaten to death.

" _But then again, this might be the perfect opportunity to test my strength against the creatures of this world… and the goblins looked weak enough… and those dead guys look like they have some decent gear…"_ –Vacio-

He was going to fight sooner or later. He might as well do it now.

He took one of the crappy javelins he made, aimed at the goblin that was currently enjoying the woman and threw the weapon has hard as his body could muster

The projectile flew beautifully and pierced the goblin right in the head.

This surprised Vacio quite a bit. He has never thrown anything as heavy as a javelin before. Even if he had the opportunity, there was no way he could throw it 10 meters with pinpoint accuracy.

He wasn't sure how that happened, but he didn't have time to figure it out. He needed to attack while he still had the element of surprise.

The goblins was still in a state of shock of their comrade's death when Vacio landed another lethal throw on the goblin that was holding down the female's left arm.

The goblin let go of the female, grabbed their clubs and made a mad dash to Vacio.

Vacio threw another one but the goblins this time were prepared this time around. They dodged his attacks like they were nothing.

" _So much for the element of surprise"_ –Vacio-

Without the initiative, he decided to prepare himself for the inevitable melee.

" **Activate Song: Inspire** , **Resistance** "

Activate Song was the Bards signature skill. It gave a certain bonus depending on which song was active. The beauty of it was the fact that it was semi-permanent. The only time it stops giving the buff was when the Bard ends the skill.

Inspire was the Bard's very first song. It gave bonus damage to the player and every ally within the area. The effect gets stronger as the Bard levels up.

It wasn't Vacio's favorite song but this was all he got. Better use it.

Oh, by the way, the second he activated Inspire, some mysterious BGM has been playing. He has no clue where it was coming from. He'll have to investigate that on a later date.

Resistance on the other hand was a 2nd Tier magic that gave Vacio a small boost in his Saves.

For those who don't know what a **Save** is, it is the chance to avoid (fully or partially) damage and status effects. It works with Physical Def, Magic Def and Resist stats in order to reduce or completely avoid harmful effects to the player.

It doesn't look like much in low levels, but every bit of help was welcome in Vacio's situation.

He waited until most of the goblins entered the range of his spell, then…

" **Disorienting Noise!** "

A high pitch sound similar to a distortion of an electric guitar was heard.

The nearest goblin, about 2 meters from Vacio, suddenly tripped and was unable to stand. The second goblin, about 5 meters away, began swaying as if it was drunk. The third goblins was 10 meters away thus was not hit by the spell.

Disorienting Noise was a root-type AOE spell. Depending on the distance and the enemy's resistance, it would induce effects ranging extreme drunkenness to being at the level where a person couldn't walk in a straight line. It doesn't do any damage and has a small AOE but it was perfect for emergency crowd control.

Vacio threw a javelin at the second goblin. Since it was too dizzy to defend itself, the spear punched through its heart, effectively killing it.

Vacio grabbed another javelin and stabbed the first goblin right in the head.

Viva La Disablers!

By this time, the third goblin was already right in front of him. It raised its club and swung down with full force.

Vacio repelled it with his javelin. Thanks to the javelin's length, Vacio was able bash the goblin in the face with the butt of the shaft.

As the goblin wobbled, Vacio swung the javelin like a baseball bat into its face. Sadly, the javelin disintegrated on impact. It was one of his crappy works after all. However, the unexpected benefit was the shrapnel that punctured the goblin's face.

While the goblin screamed in agony, Vacio grabbed one of his better javelins and impaled the goblin in the chest. He pushed it into a tree, then took another javelin and stabbed it in the face.

" _*sigh*…. Such an intense battle against a bunch of bottom feeders… how far the mighty has fallen_ …" -Vacio-

Vacio couldn't help but laugh bitterly at his situation. He would be godlike right about now if he still had his old acount.

" _Welp…. No use crying over spilled milk"_ –Vacio-

He collected all the javelins and headed to the female's location.

A quick look and Vacio could tell that the girl wasn't in the best shape. She was in a state of what you'd expect from someone who suffered from rape. Her face got bashed in a fair bit along with many other wounds on various parts of her body. It wasn't a sight anyone would look at willingly.

" **Lesser Heal"** –Vacio-

The females began revealing her true appearance as her wounds disappeared. Age wise, she was in her mid-teens. Her flawless pearl white skin, lean build, short black hair and deep violet eyes perfectly complemented each other. She was drop dead gorgeous by any standards.

She was also not human.

She looked like one of those demi human races in Yggdrasil named the 'Viera'. Quite simply they are Bunny Girls. Plain and simple.

As Vacio continued to heal her, 2 black fluffy bunny ears sprouted from her head. Looks like the goblins ripped them off while violating her.

This made Vacio regret that he killed the goblins too quickly. Personally, he despised torture of any kind. He considered rape as a form of torture.

However, he wouldn't mind letting out his inner sadist out on those whom he feel that deserves it.

His ex-wife was a prime example of this. Watching her futile struggle to survive was quite satisfying.

The goblins would probably give him the same satisfaction if Vacio was given the opportunity to play with them.

It took a few seconds for Vacio to completely heal the bunny girl.

The naked bunny girl was conscious but remained motionless on the ground. Quite understandable considering what she just went through.

Vacio decided to give her some time to get her act together.

He turned to the other corpses for some much needed gear upgrade.

The man had a bit of blubber in him and he wore some decent silk robes. This was a clear sign that the man has never fought his entire life.

The two females were of the human race and both of them were armed. It looked like they were armed guards hired by the man to guard his cart.

One thing Vacio found perplexing though. Based on the bunny girl, the 3 corpses appearance and their clothing, it seemed that they were Chinese in origin.

Another proof that solidified Vacio's theory that he might be in a Chinese theme world was the weapon he got from one of the ladies.

It was the most overly popularized weapon in Chinese movies. It was called the 'Jian', aka the Chinese Double Edge Straight Sword.

Vacio cringed at the sight of it. He may not have a deep knowledge of weapons, but he found the Jian an extremely flimsy weapon. It looked like it would bend and break if it was forced to block a heavier weapon.

More importantly, didn't appeal to his sense of aesthetics. It was not manly enough!

And besides, Vacio wasn't a sword person to begin with. Swords may be the most versatile melee weapon out there, but there was a good reason why it wasn't the to-go-to weapon at times of war.

And it was not manly enough!

Annoyingly, the other female also used the same weapon.

" _Looks like I'm stuck with my handmade spears…. What a pain"_ –Vacio-

The more frustrating part was their lack of armor.

Now that Vacio thought about it, when did martial artists ever wear armor?

As person who celebrated what it means to be a man, he preferred heavy weapons and armors. The lightweight fighting style of the martial artists did not please his sense of aesthetics.

If he was truly in a Chinese Martial Arts themed world, then he cant expect any heavy armors any time soon. Him taking the alchemist class was the right thing after all.

" _I'm going to have to make my own stuff…. Great…Just Great"_ –Vacio-

After looting, he went to the cart to check what he could salvage.

There were clothes, silk, herbs, food and other materials that could be used for crafting. He dumped it all in his item inventory.

On the subject of Item Inventory, Vacio had to carry all of his javelins on his back because he couldn't access his inventory during combat. There was an item that allows switching of items straight from the inventory during battle, but those were cash items.

Seeing how Vacio had nothing from Yggdrasil, he'll have to make do with what was available at hand. Anything and everything may have some use in the future, thus he took everything from the cart.

And besides, the owners were already in the afterlife. They wont be needing it anytime soon.

After taking everything, Vacio took another look at the bunny girl.

" _Still not moving huh…. I guess I have some time then"_ –Vacio-

He closed his eyes and checked if he had enough EXP for level up.

True enough he had enough for 2 levels.

As expected of the two of the bread and butter of RPGs, the combination of killing monsters and doing quests giving worked best.

Since he was still in an area where many things that could potentially kill him, he decided to take more Bard levels for survival purposes.

Tier 3 Spells:, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Acid Javelin

Tier 4 Spells: Invisibility, Illusion, Force Push

Vacio couldn't help but sigh in relief. Finally, his burst damage got some upgrade with the cheap-to-cast Force Push and the splash damage Acid Javelin.

Mind you, these 2 spells were nothing compared to the assortment a pure mage had, but they help out immensely to support oriented class like the Bard.

After leveling up, he opened his eyes and spotted the bunny girl finally out of her trauma induced trance.

Vacio approached but this caused the bunny girl to shrink back in fright. It was annoying but understandable reaction.

Vacio kept his distance, opened his inventory and threw some clothes he looted from the cart

"I don't mind the eye candy but there are moral codes that we have to follow. Get dressed. We're getting out of here as fast as possible." –Vacio-

He might be a little forceful when speaking to the obviously traumatized bunny girl, but right now, their safety is much more important.

She noticed her appearance and quickly got dressed

"W-who are you?" –Bunny Girl-

The bunny girl acted meekly in front of a child that was obviously younger than her. Honestly it was quite cute.

"Just some random passerby that decided to save you. Naturally I expect compensation." –Vacio-

The bunny girl shrank back.

"I thank you and I would gladly return the favor. However, as you can see, I have nothing of value to offer. I could offer you everything in the cart but it seems that the goblins already looted it all" –Bunny Girl-

It looked like the girl didn't see Vacio loot the cart.

Very good.

He didn't want to debate on the morality of looting from the dead.

"That's fine. I actually just want the directions to the nearest town. Lead me there and consider your debts paid in full" –Vacio-

This was the main reason why he bothered saving the bunny girl.

While he could remain in the wild and make a life for himself, the information he could get about the world from a town was invaluable.

The ideas of being able to sleep peacefully and take a bath without the threat of being eaten were bonuses he desperately needed.

The girl cupped her hands like one of those martial artists in Chinese films.

"I swear I will lead you to Bastion City without a fail, but please help me save my sister! She was taken by the goblins to their nest earlier! I know I'm being unreasonable but please help me save my sister!" –Bunny Girl-

The girl dropped to her knees and begged.

Truth be told, Vacio wanted to reject her. The word 'Nest' meant that he had to go up against the goblins in their home court. That doesn't bode well at all.

However, he wasn't sure if he could find another guide any time soon. Odds are this was the only chance he had.

And the bunny girl was obviously giving him a quest. A fairly big one as a matter of fact. The EXP reward should match the effort, right?

As he weighed the pros and cons, the bunny girl became nervous of his sudden silence.

"Do you know where they took her?"-Vacio-

The bunny girl's face instantly lighted up.

Vacio might sound like a broken record but the girl was absolutely adorable. Give the girl a few years to grow and she'll have legions of men lusting for her.

"Yes! Prior to our departure, we were told to avoid a certain area because of the existence of the goblins. The merchant that hired us didn't listen and decided to take this route because it saves us 5 days of travel. Now look at us…." –Bunny Girl-

The bunny girl was so angry at the fat man that she kicked the corpse in order to vent. She kicked so hard that the fat man's skull deformed from the impact.

"You don't seem too affected with the death of your comrades" –Vacio-

He threw the look at the 2 female corpses. Both were violated like the Bunny Girl but they experienced much less torture. From the looks of it, they were killed quickly, thus their bodies were subjected to less injury.

"Aside from my sister, this was the first time I ever met the others. I don't know them well enough to mourn for their deaths. And besides, those two were weak. They only wanted to get close to the merchant so that they could milk him for money…. Stupid gold digging whores!" –Bunny Girl-

This time, Bunny Girl crushed one of the female head with a fairly brutal stomp.

Vacio could relate very well. Gold diggers were nothing but annoyances.

"Well then, lead the way er…." –Vacio-

"My name is Tu Zi. I am of the War Bunny Race."-Bunny Girl-

Vacio couldn't help but let out a groan.

" _So it really is a Chinese themed fantasy world! DAMN IT!"_ –Vacio-

Aside from the old Jackie Chan movies and the classic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Vacio had next to nothing on Chinese Fantasy.

If its modern Chinese Culture than he has some idea. He did work in the mainland once…. For only 1 month…. Before leaving and swearing that he'll never come back. And he never did! Best decision of his life!

If the world was set in the typical European medieval ages, then he has no problem with that. That's where most of his gamer and inner weeboo knowledge revolved on.

If the world was set in Ancient Japan, he'll get into a fair bit of trouble but he was confident that his limited knowledge would power through. He did worked in Japan for the last 30 years after all.

But in a Chinese Fantasy themed world?

He was screwed. Royally Screwed

"Is there a problem?"-Tu Zi-

Tu Zi was shrank back a bit. She thought that the kid in front of her might have a racial bias to her kind.

Racism was fairly common in this portion of the world. The War Bunnies in particular infamous as one of the most violent of all the races in the country.

She cant really blame her savior for the bad rep that her race has incurred over the centuries.

However, the kid's response was not what she expected.

"Not really. I just realize that I'm not in a place I'm familiar with." –Vacio-

"Eh? You're from the Dragon Empire?" –Tu Zi-

"Yup. My name is Vacio and I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not from here. But enough about that. Let's go save your sister."-Vacio-

Vacio decided to cut the conversation there.

He wanted to avoid answering questions such as 'Where did you come from?' or 'How did you get here?' because he hasn't thought of a convincing lie to use as an answer.

Tu Zi nodded in agreement and led the way.

They scaled a nearby mountain for about 30 minutes until they reached the middle part of it. In small crevasse was the mouth of a decently sized cave. There were about 3 goblins guarding the entrance.

By 'guarding', Vacio meant sleeping on the job. Goblins were not known for their discipline.

"So do you have a plan?" –Vacio-

"Rush in and slaughter them all!" –Tu Zi

The way Tu Zi said it was with full dignity and belief that it was the right course of action.

Vacio thought that she was angry at the goblins for all the crap she suffered, but it seemed that this was not the case. Not a spec of rage was in her eyes. She simply wanted to kill them all.

Despite Tu Zi's perfect feminine beauty, she has the brain of a bull on steroids. Though Vacio attributed this to her race. She did say that she was a WAR Bunny.

"Let's not do that, shall we. Let's try a more tactical approach" –Vacio-

"Ha? Are you scared? And you call yourself a man?" -Tu Zi-

Tu Zi's teasing didn't really affect Vacio.

While he was a bit ticked off about her calling out his bravery as a man, something of which he happened to be proud off, he decided to brush it off.

Name calling decreases in effectivity as one gets older. Since Vacio was at the end of his lifespan, calling him names simply made him look at his opponents as childish

"Don't be stupid. Who knows how many goblins are in that cave. We're not even sure where your sister is. If we do attack, what if the goblins decide to use your sister as a hostage?"-Vacio-

Tu Zi clearly did not think anything through. She bowed her head in shame.

"Then let's hear your genius plan then." –Tu Zi-

"I'll sneak in and try to find your sister. When I find her, I need you to make a distraction to lure out the Goblins from the cave. I'll send you a Message when the time comes. Then I'll carry your sister out. Got that?"-Vacio-

Tu Zi's mouth hit the floor, much to Vacio's confusion.

"You can use 2nd tier Spells, have the ability to fight 5 goblins at once and plan a comprehensive strategy yet you're still below 15 years of age? Are you some son of a great general? Or maybe a peerless genius nurtured by a peerless expert? Can you please tell me what the level of your cultivation is at? Who is your master?" –Tu Zi-

" _Da Faq are you talking about woman?"_ –Vacio-

Great General? Genius? Peerless Expert? Cultivation?

Those weren't words that Vacio was used to hearing. Those were probably some words specific to this particular lands.

Anyways, Vacio decided to sidestep the questions since he couldn't answer them anyway.

"Shut up! Your sister's life is in danger here. That's the only thing that matters right now. Everything else is irrelevant"-Vacio-

Tu Zi's excitement quickly cooled down. She then agreed to Vacio's plan.

Vacio gave Tu Zi the 2 Jians he looted earlier for the eventual battle ahead.

Tu Zi then position herself far enough from the cave to not be spotted by a roaming patrol, but close enough for her hit and run diversion later.

Vacio stealthily approached the cave.

" **Invisibility** " –Vacio-

His body faded to non-existence. Sadly this did not block out sound, so he still needed to be careful on how he moved.

He quietly walked into the cave and realized that the sneaky approach was the right decision.

The cave was divided into 4 sub caverns.

The largest one was at the very back. It was where all the goblins were concentrated. Probably their sleeping quarters/main hall.

The nearest one to the cave entrance was what seemed to be the place where they store their loot. Naturally, Vacio emptied it all into his inventory.

It was quite the harvest.

Aside from medicinal herbs, metal alloys and the usual useless junk, Vacio was able to get a weapon fit for a MAN!

It was a simple one hand mace made of iron. It may be a Low Rank item, but it was one hell of an upgrade compared to his javelins.

Sadly, still no armor. Damn it.

He moved to the next sub cavern... and he nearly had a heart attack.

It seemed that this was the private room of the boss of this not-so-merry band of monsters. Based on the info his Lore provided, this was a hob goblin. It was slightly large than Vacio's 13 year old body but it was muscular as hell!

Fortunately it was asleep and Vacio preferred it that way.

The last sub cavern was rage inducing to say the least

He did spot his target. Just like her sister, her rabbit was violated and her ears were ripped from her head.

Were War Bunny ears valuable or something?

However, that wasn't why Vacio was pissed off. The main reason was the existence of 3 other females…. And all of them were pregnant.

Clearly they have gone through hell during their captivity here.

Vacio removed his Invisibility and healed Tu Zi's sister. After that he approach the 3 females to check on their condition.

Compared to the War Bunny, the 3 much better off physically. There were no wounds whatsoever. However, he could tell that they have lost the will to live.

"Can you hear me?"-Vacio-

Only their eyes moved. While they no longer had the energy to talk, he could see the sorrow in their eyes.

After a few moments of silence, Vacio asked the ultimate question

"Do you want to die?"-Vacio-

Small streams of tears flowed from the female's eyes. They silently sobbed for a few seconds before giving Vacio a weak nod.

"I'll make this painless….. **Lesser Strength** "-Vacio-

He casted a buff to increase his strength. He raised his mace and smashed the females head like a tomato. He made sure to aim perfectly and use full strength so that the female could pass on without feeling anything.

Truth be told, he could have saved them, but he was doubtful that they wanted to be saved. Who knows how many times they were forced to give birth to goblins. They were better off dead that forced to endure the psychological trauma

Since his objective has been met, time to evacuate

" **Message** : Hey Bunny Girl, can you hear me? Start the diversion" –Vacio

"By the Huntress! That startled me! So this is what the Message spell fells like. Ha ha ha! Interesting! For a kid, you sure have a lot of tricks up yourself! Tell me-"-Tu Zi-

"Shut up and get on with the diversion! Your sister is unconscious and there's a lot of goblins in here. I cant sneak out safely while carrying your sister." –Vacio-

"Right right. Sorry about that. Time to dance!" -Tu Zi-

-:-

Tu Zi was hiding in a bush about 20 meters from the cave's entrance.

While she boasted to Vacio a distraction that would get the attention of the entire goblin nest, she was actually a bit scared.

There were a lot of goblins in that nest

The War Bunny culture was centered on the religion/philosophy of "The Wild Hunt". There were annoying traditions and what not that Tu Zi never bothered to care about, but the core philosophy was easy to understand.

The Strong Rules. The Weak Serves.

Quite a few of the people she has met called their tradition as brutal, savage and uncivilized.

Tu Zi felt that most people say that because they were weak. Unable to fend for themselves, thus can only bitch and moan about it.

Tu Zi and the War Bunnies in general were not like that. From their very childhood, they were taught how to destroy their opponents with deadly zeal.

But that doesn't mean War Bunnies charge into the fray like lunatics. Their bodies were not built that way. They were built for speed and agility.

Tu Zi herself was a buy product of this. Despite being only 15 years old, Tu Zi's cultivation was 7th rank of the Acolyte Realm (Note: Level 7). Her talent was excellent and her future was bright.

Her talents were so exceptional that, in the future, the Matriarch considered her as one of the potential successors. The other one being her sister who was more or less equal to Tu Zi in every way.

However, even her talents were inferior to the Hobgoblin inside the cave. Her estimates that it was in the 10th rank of the Acolyte Realm (Note: Level 10). It was only a step below the Advanced Realm, yet its appearance nearly annihilated them earlier.

Sure, it had a lot of weak goblins for back up, but it was smart enough to for tactics that not even the ferocity of Tu Zi and her sister could overcome.

" _I hope little Vacio knows what he's doing"_ –Tu Zi-

Tu Zi felt that Vacio was not simple at all.

A puny 13 year old human killed 5 goblins with shoddy weaponry?

Definitely not normal for a human.

With that in mind, Tu Zi decided to bet on Vacio.

"May the prey be fat and plentiful….. **Martial Arts: Pace of the Wind! Evasion!** " –Tu Zi-

She charged at the lone guard.

Naturally, War Bunnies were fast runners. With the martial arts Pace of the Wind, Tu Zi's speed was taken up a notch.

By the time the goblin guard noticed her footsteps, Tu Zi already slashed her two swords. Both the goblins legs were lobbed off.

Naturally, the intense pain awakened the goblin.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"-goblin guard-

Its high pitch scream was music to Tu Zi's ear.

"Come on! Scream! Scream for your brothers!"- Tu Zi-

She then spread the goblin's legs and brutally stepped on his nuts.

"HAHAHAHAHA! This is what your inferior race did to me earlier! Break break BREAK!" –Tu Zi-

A few seconds later, the earth shook as the goblin horde exited the cave in order to see what was going on.

Tu Zi stopped tormenting the goblin and launched herself to the first goblin that stepped out of the cave. Her sword stabbed straight into the goblin's skull before it could react. She hacked and slashed her way into the cave.

"WAR BUNNY!" –random goblin-

That single word caused the nest to awaken.

Tu Zi knew that the best way to lure these inferior beings was to use herself as bait.

War Bunnies, like Elves, were known for their exquisite beauty. Even the ugliest of the War Bunnies was above average in Human standards.

She had no idea why they were born beautiful. But this lesson was drilled to each and every one of the War Bunnies since childhood. This was in order to educate them that beauty was one of the many weapons that they could use.

As predicted, the entire goblin nest rushed after her with the intention of violating her.

Tu Zi kept charging into the cave, slaughtering every goblin in her path, until she felt that there were too many for her to fight.

Abusing the small size of the tunnels, Tu Zi slowly traveled back to the entrance while killing any goblin stupid enough to attack her.

However, she quickly ran the second she spotted the Hobgoblin. She was not strong enough to fight the Hobgoblin along with the goblin horde.

Her objective was accomplished as the entire goblin nest chased after her.

" _The rest is up to you little Vacio"_ –Tu Zi-

-:-

Vacio was impressed. He thought Tu Zi was nothing more than a frenzied berserker that thought nothing but killing. He was wrong.

It took a couple of minutes before the nest was completely empty.

" **Message** : Well done girl. Well Done. Make sure that you don't get caught" –Vacio-

"Who do you think I am?! I could leave these low lives in the dust if I wanted to!" –Tu Zi-

"Good. Let's meet up at the spot we agreed on." –Vacio-

"See ya~!" –Tu Zi-

As per her usual cockiness, the message between Vacio and Tu Zi went dead.

Vacio carried Tu Zi's sister on his shoulder and started his trek to the rally point. Before he exited the cave, he was struck with a sudden bolt of inspiration.

He took out some herbs, a flask of water and some animal skin.

Using a process he had absolutely no idea how he did it, Vacio crafted an alchemic item called a Poison Fog Bomb. He made about 3 pieces in 5 minutes.

How he made those complicated bombs so quickly?

He had absolutely no idea. His hand moved as if he has made it a million times before.

Rather than ponder on something he'll never understand, Vacio decided to act.

He went to the largest sub cavern and observed it a bit. Just as he suspected, the air circulation was poor to say the least.

Good

He hid the bombs in a crevasse on the floor and punctured 1 small hole into each one of them. That allowed the poisonous gas to slowly escape.

He grabbed Sister Bunny Girl and ran as fast as he could.

The Poison Fog Bombs, or at least the stronger version of it, was one of Vacio's signature weapons in Yggdrasil.

It has a large AOE and average DOT but was relatively easy to make.

The Poison Fog Bomb was its weakest form. But in low levels, the bombs would be like insecticide to flies. If the other goblins were as weak as the once he faced earlier, then none of them would survive the night.

" _Perfect"_ –Vacio-

He kept moving for an hour while carrying sister bunny girl. He couldn't help but be impressed of the endurance of his new body. A normal human would have died from exhaustion if forced to do what Vacio has been doing.

Clearly this was the fantasy world.

The rally point they set was a small lake.

It was very easy to get there from the goblin cave if a person traveled a straight line to it.

However, Vacio made Tu Zi travel a route that was dangerous on its own right.

Tu Zi demonstrated multiple times earlier that she could cross a monster infested river by hopping on rocks and floating woods.

It nearly gave Vacio a heart attack.

However, since she could do that, might as well use it to their advantage.

The plan was to lead the goblin horde into the river and let the river monsters reduce their numbers. Tu Zi was then going to make her get away while goblin horde was being eaten.

Simple yet effective.

However, once Vacio reached the rally point, he realized that things never go according to plan.

"Hey little Vacio, I kinda messed up. The Hobgoblin was faster than I thought. ~Sorry about that~" –Tu Zi

Tu Zi rushed towards the small lake with the Hobgoblin hot on his tail.

Vacio placed the unconscious sister bunny girl on a nearby tree then rushed to meet Tu Zi

"Form up! Follow my instructions and we'll get through this!"-Vacio-

"Ha?! I know I am cocky but I am not stupid! That Hobgoblin's cultivation is at the pinnacle of the Acolyte realm! We don't stand a chance!"-Tu Zi-

" _Damn Chinese fantasy jargon! What the hell does even cultivation mean?! "_ –Vacio-

"Watch and be amazed bunny girl! Just follow my lead! **Lesser Strength, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Activate Song: Inspire!** " –Vacio-

Vacio charged straight into the Hobgoblin as Tu Zi jumped over him.

The hobgoblin was too focused on the bunny girl's immature yet scrumptious ass to notice Vacio.

" **Acid Javelin!** "-Vacio-

The acid javelin landed on the hobgoblins left thigh.

The hobgoblin screamed in agony as his left leg buckled due to its inability to support his weight.

At this point, Vacio smashed his mace into the Hobgoblin's head with all the force his 13 year old body could muster.

The blow crushed the Hobgoblin's right eye…. And it was not happy.

The hobgoblin went into a frenzy as it swung its club with increasing ferocity.

A flurry hammered Vacio, but not one of them made a decent hit. While each blow was powerful enough to kill a normal human, Vacio was a very experienced defensive fighter.

Any big swings were dodged.

Those that could not be dodged were parried.

Those that could not be parried were blocked.

To the Hobgoblin, Vacio was an extremely thick wall that wont crumble no matter what.

"Bunny girl!" –Vacio-

At Vacio's word, Tu Zi rushed to hit the goblin at the side where it didn't hold a weapon.

The Hobgoblin noticed this and tried to block Tu Zi.

Bad Move

This created an opening for Vacio to exploit.

As the hobgoblin raised his club to block Tu Zi's swords, Vacio hammered its already damaged leg.

The hobgoblin howled in agony as it crumbled to the floor.

Tu Zi abused this opening with a massive flurry of slashes. Large amounts of hobgoblin blood was spilled, yet it was not enough to finish it off.

" _Tenacious little bastard aren't you."_ –Vacio-

Vacio decided to make some distance in order to regroup.

" **Force Push!** "-Vacio-

The hobgoblin was blown 10 meters back and smashed into a tree.

Vacio observed the hobgoblin. While it did looked like it still had some energy left in it, a little more would most certainly finish it off.

"Time to up the DPS" –Vacio-

"Huh? What does that mean?"- Tu Zi-

"Just keep hitting it until it stops twitching"-Vacio-

"Then allow me to help. That hobgoblin ripped my ears off…. I would desire nothing more than a bit of revenge" -?-

Another person approached the two while the square off against the hobgoblin.

"Sis Tu Mei! Are you alright?"-Tu Zi-

"No problem older sister. I don't know why but all of my wounds seem to have disappeared." –Tu Mei-

The newcomer was sister bunny girl that Vacio carried from the cave. Based on looks alone, Tu Zi and Tu Mei were twins. The only main difference was that Tu Mei's obsidian black hair was at shoulders length compared to Tu Zi's bobcut.

However, their personalities where quite different.

The older Tu Zi was brash, unapologetic and extremely hyper. While the younger Tu Mei was more calm and reserved.

"Oh? Are you sure you can already move Bunny Girl #2? You were in a bad state when I found you"-Vacio-

"War Bunnies are built of sturdy stuff. A little rape and some torture only infuriate us more. May I ask for some weapons…. Er…." –Tu Mei

"His name is Vacio. He's one hell of a kid sis! He can use up to tier 3 spells and he can go head to head with that hobgoblin!" –Tu Zi

"Oh my! Such amazing talent for such a young age! To think the humans could give birth to such a genius. I am impressed"- Tu Mei-

Again with the genius crap.

Vacio was no genius. He was just an average old man that loved playing computer games a little too much. Being called a genius made his skin crawl.

Odds are, this 'Genius' tittle that has been thrown around probably had a different meaning or had different usage from the term Vacio knew about.

Having a different set of common sense from the world around him was really inconvenient.

Vacio decided to gather some info later. They have a hobgoblin that needed killing.

Vacio passed 2 of the better made javelins to Tu Mei.

"I hope you don't mind using those. That's the only type of weapon I have left"-Vacio-

"Of course! Spears and polearms happen to by my area of expertise"-Tu Mei

"Good. Then let's finish this one off. I'll keep it off you, so attack without holding back!"-Vacio-

Vacio charged forward.

Tu Mei actually wanted to stop Vacio. He was the youngest one out of the 3 of them. He was also a human, one of the weakest of the intelligent races.

However, she changed her mind when Tu Zi obediently followed Vacio's lead.

In terms of combat, Tu Zi had much better instincts than Tu Mei. If her older sister instinctively followed Vacio's commands, then the little human must have already gained her eccentric's older sister's approval as a warrior.

In combat, War Bunnies only follow the will of those who were stronger, smarter or better. They would never follow kings, queens or nobles that had no ability to back their prestige.

Since Tu Zi already recognized Vacio as her better, Tu Mei decided to believe in her older sister's judgement.

The three of them rushed towards the hobgoblin.

With a fairly damaged leg, the hobgoblin's mobility was as good as gone. It could only wait for the 3 to beat it to death. And naturally, it wasn't going to go down without a fight. It struck at the one nearest to it, namely Vacio.

The hobgoblin once again realized how futile it was to destroy Vacio. The blow was beautifully parried, leaving the hobgoblin open.

Vacio smashed his mace into the hobgoblin's right shoulder, causing it to drop its club.

With no threat of a weapon, the bunny sisters unleashed all their pent up rage unto the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin was sliced and diced into itsy tinny bite size pieces.

They even ripped its nuts off and forced the hobgoblin to eat it.

Vacio's manhood felt like it shrunk out of fear

A wise man once said: "Pain is a spice that enhances the flavor of vengeance."

"Welp… that's that."-Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio was quite shock how calm he was in combat. The last time he ever fought in a braw was way back in college.

To think he could calmly make life or death judgements so precisely. Yet another mystery he needed to investigate.

While he was deep in thought, a particularly painful slap to the back forced him back to reality.

"Hahahaha! That was awesome! To think those shitty humans could produce someone like you! You could easily become a general for a Khan if we were up north!" –Tu Zi-

"I had my doubts at first, but you really are good. Way too good for anyone of your age of any race. May I ask what level is your current cultivation?" -Tu Mei-

" _Argh! Again with the Chinese fantasy jargon! What the hell does that even mean?!"_ –Vacio-

Vacio was painfully aware that those who lacked the common sense of a certain place were prone to be abused by others. He was swindled a few times during his time in China because he didn't know how their crazy society worked

As much as he wanted to ask what the hell the bunny twins were talking about, his past experiences made him cautious.

While they looked trustworthy and Vacio believed that they were indeed trustworthy, that was exactly how his ex-wife appeared to be. The bunny twins' amazing beauty and their friendly aura caused alarm bells in Vacio's mind to activate.

For now, he needed information of this strange new world. Given the theme of the world he was in, he needed to be extra cautious with how he presented himself to the people.

"Let's talk about that later. Tu Zi promised me that she'll lead me to the closest town if I helped in the rescue effort. I assume that you're keep your word, right?"-Vacio-

"Of course! Since my sister is safe, I'll naturally honor my promise"-Tu Zi-

"I owe you my life as well. If there's anything you desire, just ask. We swear in the name of the Tu Family that we will help you in any way until we get to town."- Tu Mei

"Then by all means, lead the way" –Vacio-

" _Good. I was able to avoid the topic. From this point onward, its information gathering time."_ -Vacio-

And thus Vacio took his very first steps into this confusing and unfamiliar world

-:-

 **Authors Notes**

I dont like making Authors Notes. Dont expect another one anytime soon.

\- First and foremost, I apologize for not being active for so many years. My life has been quite crazy the last few years and was forced to completely abandon writing in favor of IRL. Things have calmed down a bit at the moment and I'm not sure when shit will hit the fan again. This gave me a chance to do the hobby that I love so much.

-On to the story. You're probably asking 'Why Chinese Fantasy?'. The reason is I've been reading some chinese martial arts fantasy novels as of late, and I was impressed. They are badly written, painfully predictable, prone to deus ex ASS PULL and has a habit of repeating the same trick over and over again... yet they were entertaining as hell. For those who arent familiar with the whole Xianxai (chinese fantasy novel) genre and has no patience to read the novels that can reach up to a thousand chapters (no joke), I suggest reading manga/manhua like 'Tales of Gods and Demons' and 'Battle Through The Heavens'. That is more or less what I'm trying to make.

-In regards of the Yggdrasil styled leveling system. There is barely any info on anything about Yggdrasil, so I had to create something on my own. The skills, spells and overall functions of my version of Yggdrasil relied heavily on the following sources: Overlord (duh), Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Tyranny and pretty much every Xianxai novel I have read.

-I have no knowledge of the Chinese Language and have absolutely no intention of learning it. Do you have any idea how many characters they have in their alphabet?! 50000! I have no time nor patience to learn that monstrosity! And thus, google translate will be my best friend. If any of my readers know Chinese, just PM me for suggestions and corrections.

-Lastly, I havent flexed my writing muscles for a couple of years. Hopefully this work will allow me to get my mojo back


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bastion City

-:-

Following the bunny twins, Vacio made his way to the nearest town.

During that time, Vacio learned quite a bit about the world from his interaction with the bunny twins.

The most important thing he learned from them was what 'Cultivation' was. Apparently, it was just a fancy name for Levels.

The Realms of Cultivation and their corresponding levels were as follows:

Acolyte- Level 1-10

Advance- Level 11-20

Master- Level 21-30

Hero- Level 31-40

King- Level 41-50

Emperor- Level 51-60

Saint- Level 61-70

Sage- Level 71-80

Enlightened - Level 81-90

Overlord- Level 91-99

God- Level 100

Technically speaking, there were only 10 Realms of cultivation. The last Realm was nothing more than a fanciful title to those who have achieved absolute power.

As far as this modern world was concerned, no one has ever seen a person go beyond the Hero Realm.

The highest ranked beings that the bunny girls knew of was the mythical 4 Divine Gods that founded the Dragon Empire. Legend stated that they were all in the Sage Realm.

These 4 were the ones that pacified the chaotic realms and made it into Dragon Empire. Based on the legends, all knowledge that was being used by the continent could be traced down to the 4 Divine Gods. Be it mathematics, arts, agriculture, warfare or even love. All of these were taught by the 4 Divine Gods

However, there was one thing that confused even the modern historians.

Why were the 4 Divine 'Gods' only at the Sage Realm? Shouldn't they be in the God Realm?

The most widely accepted answer to this was the Cultivation Realms was meant to teach people the price of overconfidence. There will always be someone stronger than you and you should never get cocky when you gain new strength.

All of the philosophers believed that this was the message the 4 Divine Gods wanted to convey in the Cultivation Realms.

Within the philosopher's community, it was widely accepted that there were only 9 Cultivation Realms. The Enlightened and the Overlord Realm did not exist. They were only placed there in order to teach the masses the lessons the 4 Divine Gods wanted to teach.

All the philosophers believed that the 4 Divine Gods were already at the God Realm, but they humbled themselves for the sake of the people.

Even though the 11 realms were believed to be inaccurate, the Cultivation Realm remained as the Gods presented them out of respect

Now, the bunny twins don't give a rats ass about the history of Cultivation, but their very own grandmother was one of these Philosophers. The twins couldn't escape their grandmother's lesson even if they wanted to.

During their travels, Vacio also learned how 'Cultivation' worked.

Quite simply, it was mediation.

Cultivation took a hell lot of time and it wasn't as straight forward as Vacio's Yggdrasil leveling system.

First they needed something called a 'Cultivation Method'. They sit on their asses for hours on end while reciting these Cultivation Methods. If they broke through a rank, they receive stat bonuses and skills that the Cultivation Method provides. It was exactly like what Classes was to Vacio.

In order to increase the rate of their cultivation, they use things called Pills (WTF!).

No, it's not those drugs used for contraception.

Apparently, Pills were this world's Potions, albeit in expensive round solid candy form.

Cultivation was fairly straightforward forward process. Instead of the classic RPG style of killing monsters and performing quests to gain EXP, martial artist can absorb EXP straight out of the pills.

No need to risk your life in the wild blue yonder. All you need to do is sit still and let the 'heavenly energy nourish your body'.

However, Cultivation was an extremely time consuming and horribly inefficient. Not only were Pills expensive, it also gave pitifully small amounts of EXP. The higher a martial artist's cultivation realm was, the more powerful, more expensive and larger amounts of pills he was required to consume.

However, there was an upside to Cultivation.

Martial Arts!

The bunny twins could perform skills that rivaled mid tiered spells.

Pace of the Wind worked similarly to the 5th tier spell Haste with its increased move speed.

Evasion worked like one of the skills of the Shadow Dancer, one of the advance classes for the Rouge. It gave the user an increased dodge rate via decreased body weight for ease of movement.

For some reason Vacio couldn't use Martial Arts at all.

Apparently Martial Arts could only be achieved through one or a combination of the following: quite a bit of practice, combat experience or a life/death experience that forced a person to grow.

All of these were inaccessible to Vacio

" _Meh… Its not like I desperately need martial arts anyway. If anything, I'm actually better off without it."_ -Vacio-

One thing very important thing he learned from the bunny sisters was how amazingly weak this world was in regards to magic.

The massive Dragon Empire and its neighboring countries focused greatly in martial arts. Mages were uncommon because of how widely available martial arts schools were in the Dragon Empire.

Magic was mostly concentrated within wealthy merchants and the nobility. Education in this world was a privilege, not a right. Most people cant even read. Magic required a person to read magic texts and sigils.

The bunny sisters were actually one of the rare few who had access to education. This was because their talent caught the eye of their tribe's matriarch. They were forcefully bred into the future leaders of their tribe.

Because of this focus in martial arts, the highest ranked magic that was normally seen by the people was of the 3rd tier.

4th tier magic was so rare that most people couldn't identify them on sight. This was the main reason why the bunny sisters were not able to recognize the 4th tier magic Force Push and Invisibility.

Apparently there are those who could use 5th tier magic but the only ones who could use it was those who had successfully stepped in the realm of Heroes.

6th tier magic was on a different scale. Normally, it required a lot of magic casters, large amounts of materials and long preparations to cast one. Even then, the odds of failing were painfully high. There have been records of people who were able to cast 6th tier magic, but details were extremely hard to come by.

The 7th tier and beyond simply exist in mythology. Similar to the 4 Divine Gods where their actions were so removed from common sense that it cant be real, the 7th tier and above were labeled as nothing more than fairytales by modern day scholars. They were simply too godlike to be real.

The talk with the bunny sisters gave Vacio a lot of valuable insight on what not to do. Quite simply, he almost shot himself in the foot during his fight with the bunny sisters against the Hobgoblin.

Bards were relatively unpopular in Yggdrasil. Here in this world where Martial Arts dominated the war market, Bards would probably be even less popular.

The tier 4 Force Push was a sound based shockwave that smashes into an enemy with enough force of a truck. Fortunately for Vacio, Force Push was nigh indistinguishable with Telekinetic Blast, a tier 3 mage-only spell. The only real difference between Force Push and Telekinetic Blast was that the later was much more powerful and it didn't have the loud bang.

Vacio wanted to keep himself incognito. He still has no idea how society worked in this world. Being too flashy would attract a lot of unwanted attention.

Until he was able to work the system, it was best to stay off the system.

-:-

10 Days Later

The trio approached a city that Vacio expected from a Chinese Fantasy novel.

Bastion City was a massive city built around a fairly tall mountain. The mountain itself became something like a fortress due to the fortification carved directly into the stone. There were tons of houses, fields and market places scattered around the mountain.

But most amazingly was the massive wall that surrounded the town completely. Based from the outside appearance alone, it was about 50 meters tall. When they got closer and passed through one of the main gates, Vacio estimated that the wall's thickness was at least 20-30 meters.

Bastion City lives up to its name. Breaking through that monstrosity of a wall was going to be a monumental undertaking.

After entering, they passed through numerous rice fields that stretched from the wall to the bottom of the mountain.

Eventually they arrived to one of many small 'towns' that surrounded the mountain. That's just how big Bastion City was. It had multiple towns inside the massive city area.

At the center of that small town was a sight only seen in fan service anime.

Bunny Girls… about 20 of them.

Or maybe they should be called Bunny Women.

Compared to the pre-teen Tu Zi and Tu Mei, the Bunny Women were curvations and mature. They looked like something out of a hentai minus the nudity and sex scenes that one would expect with such a gathering of unrealistically beautiful women.

Sadly, Vacio was used to the artistic prowess of many amazing graphic artist in Yggdrasil. The Bunny Women were just pretty to look at, but not in the level as those NPCs created by some of Vacio's friends.

And besides, Vacio was instinctively wary of beautiful women.

One of the bunny women spotted the Tu Twins.

"Oy! The Twins are here!" –random bunny woman A-

"Hahahaha! I thought you two bit the dust! Tough little rats aren't you!" –random bunny woman B-

The bunny women gathered around the twins while giving some friendly insults here and there. Unlike their beauty and bell like voice, their words were quite crass and manly.

That was expected of a warrior race.

One particular bunny woman approached the twins. The aura of this one was so great that everyone gave way for her. All the bunny girls performed a martial arts salute to her.

"You two sure took your time. I was starting to think you died" -?-

""We apologize Guardian Go Fei."" –Tu Zi and Tu Mei-

It looked like Guardian was some sort of high ranking position in the War Bunny hierarchy. Whoever she was, she had a lot of authority within the group.

Vacio stealthily backed away when the bunny women approached the Tu Twins. From the looks of things, this was where his short lived trio must go on their separate ways.

And besides, Vacio was a bit wary of this Go Fei woman. While she looked drop dead gorgeous, she felt like one of those German stereotypes in anime, extremely serious and heavily militarized mind set.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get away fast enough.

"Guardian Go Fei. We truly did meet a situation that would have definitely led to our deaths. If it wasn't for our benefactor, little Vacio, we wouldn't be here"- Tu Zi-

The way Tu Zi presented Vacio was as if she was boasting.

Go Fei was slightly confused. She knew the Tu twins since they were cubs and was familiar of their personalities. Tu Zi was incredibly cocky and prideful and she would never place herself beneath someone unless there was a clear difference in ability.

Go Fei shifted her gaze to Tu Mei for answers.

"My sister speaks the truth. Vacio, a child younger than we are, rescued as from spending our lives as sex toys to the Hobgoblin and his goblin horde. For such a young human to possess extraordinary talent, me and my sister were blessed with such an encounter"-Tu Mei-

Go Fei knew that Tu Mei was the more sensible of the two. Tu Mei followed protocol so much better than her older sister. If the younger Tu was backing up the older Tu, Go Fei knew that this was the truth.

"Va Cio? Such a weird name. Where is this little benefactor of yours"- Go Fei-

The Tu Twins search around for a bit and spotted Vacio who was already a fair bit of distance away.

"Hey Vacio! Isnt rude to just suddenly leave? Atleast say goodbye will ya!"- Tu Zi-

Vacio felt a chill crawl up his spine. He knew that simply walking away was rude, but that he felt that Go Fei was bad news. Thus he kept walking away as if he didn't hear Tu Zi.

"Aw come on! Don't be such a stranger!"- Tu Zi-

Go Fei was able to spot Vacio by following Tu Zi and Tu Mei's line of sight.

" **Martial Arts: Pace of the Wind** " –Go Fei-

Go Fei launched herself at Vacio with breakneck speed with the intention of grabbing him.

Due to large amounts of pvp experience during his time in Yggdrasil, Vacio's kinetic vision was used to tracking high speed movements. The second his instincts warned him that something dangerous was coming, he was able to turn around, spot Go Fei in during her lunge and was able to dodge roll out of the way.

Due to Go Fei's high inertia, she wasn't able to change directions quickly and simply went past Vacio

This surprised Go Fei. To think that a child that was only in the 6th rank of the Acolyte Realm was able to dodge her even if she was holding back.

" _Interesting"-_ Go Fei

" **Northern Martial Arts: Vector Change** "-Go Fei-

Without stopping or slowing down, Go Fei's direction suddenly changed.

Vacio was still recovering from the dodge roll. He couldn't help but be caught by Go Feis sudden direction change. With no means to resist, Vacio prepared for the worse

" **Resistance. Reinforce Armor. Shield Wall** "-Vacio-

Not a millisecond after casting his defensive spells, Vacio was nailed with a painful punch into his gut. He was blown back into a nearby wall, and before he could crumble to his knees in agony, Go Fei quickly pinned him into the wall with her elbow.

"Hmm. I see the Tu sisters were right. You do have potential. You might even have enough talent to-"-Go Fei-

Go Fei suddenly released Vacio in order to dodge the combined attack of the Tu twins.

The fully armed Tu Twins made a defensive perimeter around Vacio.

"Guardian Fei! How dare you attack little Vacio!"- Tu Mei-

"I should send those words right back at you. How dare you attack a Guardian of your tribe?"-Go Fei-

"Me and my sister owe Vacio a Life Debt. We promised him that as long as we remained together, we would guarantee his safety. As a Guardian that upholds the tradition of our clan, you know what that means right?"-Tu Zi-

Tu Zi was arrogant when facing off with Go Fei but in truth, she was scared shitless. While Guardians main purpose was to hold the traditions, values and discipline of their clan, they were more powerful than most of the clan members. The only one that could exceed a Guardian in combat was the Matriarch, which would often be the greatest of all the clans warriors.

Guardian Go Fei would easily rip the twins apart with her bare hands.

Fortunately, the twins gamble paid off.

Guardian's main function was to strictly uphold traditions. One of the most important War Bunny traditions was the Life Debt.

If the War Bunny believed that she owed a person her life, she must spend the rest of her life paying that debt.

"I apologize. I thought the little human was being rude for ignoring the two of you. However, after seeing his abilities for myself, I realized that he was truly someone worthy of a War Bunny's respect"-Go Fei-

Everyone calmed down after that. The War Bunnies didn't enjoy the prospect of having to fight a Guardian.

The Tu twins turned their attention to Vacio

"Why did you ignore us when we were calling? That kind of hurts you know?"-Tu Zi-

Naturally, he didn't want to tell them that Go Fei's existence gave him an instinctive impulse to run away.

" _Shit. Got to lie myself out of this one."_ –Vacio-

Praying that the Bard class gave him enough charisma to act convincingly, Vacio began his bullshit.

"You called me? I didn't hear it" –Vacio-

"We were practically shouting. There's no way you didn't hear us"- Tu Mei-

"Hmm… I guess I was thinking too deeply. Sorry about that. I was trying to figure out what to do from here on out. I have some plans but they were too vague to amount to anything. I was brainstorming before the powerful lady attacked. I was about to lose my only acquaintances after all."-Vacio-

The bunny twins told Vacio early on that they were going to Bastion City to meet those of their clan in order complete their rite of passage. They would then leave the Dragon Empire and head north beyond the great wall to their home country.

Naturally, Vacio had to prepare for their eventual separation.

"~Aww~ Are you sad that we'll leave you behind?"- Tu Zi-

Tu Zi teased Vacio by poking his cheeks.

Unfortunately for the cocky bunny girl, Vacio has more than enough experience to counter this.

He lightly caressed Tu Zi's cheek and with the demeanor of a man talking to his lover, he launched his counter attack.

"Of course I'm sad my love. To be separated from such a beauty like you breaks my heart in two"-Vacio-

"WHA-!" –Tu Zi-

The blushing Tu Zi quickly backed away from Vacio. She was speechless as she covered her cheek with her hand. Vacio's actions made her heart skip a beat.

The bunny women who witnessed this did not hesitate to laugh out loud. To think the tomboy Tu Zi would such a girly reaction was hilarious!

"You... YOU BASTARD! YOU DARE MAKE FUN OF ME?!"- Tu Zi-

"So you're the type of person who likes to tease someone but cant take it when you're on the receiving end. How adorable!"-Vacio-

She grappled Vacio and tried to pull his cheeks apart, but Vacio valiantly resisted with all of his might. Sadly Tu Zi was 1 level higher than Vacio. While he can impede her efforts, he was still losing in brute strength. Even if they were the same level, he probably would have lost anyway. Demi-humans always had higher stat gain than humans after all.

However, if Vacio was in his true level, he could easily win in brute force.

Vacio was actually already at level 14. This was thanks to all of the goblins his poison bombs killed, the death of the hobgoblin, the quest of saving the bunny twins and all of the lore he has gained during their 10 day travel.

His leveling up was slow as hell, but beggars cant be choosers.

However, he didn't spend any of his level-ups because martial artists had this annoying ability to detect someone's cultivation if they were +/- 10 levels from each other.

Cultivation was supposed to be a long and tiresome process that required lots of 'cultivation resources'. Someone who could suddenly jump 8 levels was beyond abnormal. He had to wait for the twins to leave before he could use up all of his levels.

He did have an advance class that can disguise his level, however, it was only available at level 20. Until then, Vacio needed to keep his interactions with others to a minimum.

The less he had to deal with, the better.

While Vacio was being manhandled by Tu Zi, Go Fei approached them.

"You twins are right. His potential is indeed great. In fact, his potential is so great that in normal cases, I would have forced the two of you to start a Line with him"-Go Fei-

""HA?!"" –Tu Zi and Tu Mei-

The twins' face suddenly became scarlet. Both of them took a peek at Vacio, but the moment their gazes met, they quickly shifted their heads. Tu Zi even got off him as quickly as possible. The two shyly stood a few meters from Vacio.

It looked like whatever this 'Line' was, it was kinky in nature. Interesting

Whatever, the Line was, Go Fei quickly smashed the twins' delusion.

"However, we have our laws and traditions to adhere to. Little Va Cio... I apologize but your name just sounds weird. I cant help but pause every time I say it" –Go Fei-

Since this world was a Chinese themed world, most people assumed that his name was Va (last name) and Cio (first name). That's to be expected since his name isn't even Chinese, or is not even a name.

"That's because I'm a foreigner in the Dragon Empire."-Vacio-

"Oh. That explains everything then. Gray hair in your age might not be common in this parts of the world, but its probably common somewhere else."-Go Fei-

"Err… No. The gray hair is more of a genetic mutation. Odds are, I'm one of the extremely few that has it. But enough about that. What's this with laws, traditions and that 'Line' thing? "-Vacio-

Just from the sound of it, this 'Line' was a chain quest that would takes ages to complete. Quest meant lore, items and exp. All of these were things Vacio needed in massive amounts.

"A 'Line' is something like a military unit."-Go Fei-

" _Huh? A military unit? Then why the hell are the twins blushing? This makes no sense"_ -Vacio-

"I can see the confusion in your eyes and I understand. There is a reason why we are called WAR Bunnies. We are beings born to wage war. A 'Line' acts like a military unit, but to us, it is something similar to a 'Family' to humans. We travel together, eat from the same pot, fight together and die together. It's a small community of brothers and sisters at arms."- Go Fei-

"I see…. So that's how it is."- Vacio-

Family might be a big deal to the War Bunnies. It's something stupid like Bushido or Chivalry. Over value something and it will end up becoming a core belief of an entire civilization.

That was also probably the reason why the twins blushed.

"While you have the potential, you are not qualified to start a Line at the moment. First you are too young. 15 years of age is what we consider as an adult. Next, and more importantly, you don't have enough money. A Line requires food, weapons, shelter and many other commodities to keep it running. While you will eventually have people helping out with the expenses, those who start a Line are the de facto 'Father' of that family. Being the breadwinner is expected." –Go Fei-

" _Ah. Not only is it a base building quest, its also resource management. Looks like this 'Line' chain quest is one of those that stays in your quest log for a long time. Its better to have a vague goal to work towards than going in blind"_ -Vacio-

"I understand. There's nothing I can do with being under age. I'll just have to let time pass. On the other hand, I can do something about my lack of money. How rich do I have to be in order to be qualified to start a Line?" –Vacio-

"That's easy. Just imagine yourself as the father of lots of rambunctious and bloodthirsty children. How much money do you think you need?"-Go Fei-

Vacio couldn't help but facepalm. He had experienced raising a child and a dead weight for a wife. Those 2 costed quite a bit to support.

If he was going to be the initial investor of a military unit, it would probably cost him an arm and a leg.

"The more the better?"-Vacio-

"Correct. Discouraged? "-Go Fei-

"Nope. It looks like a worthy goal" –Vacio-

More accurately, a military unit under his beck and call would increase his chances of survival. A tightly knit unit would greatly reduce the chance of betrayal.

'Strength in numbers' or so the saying goes.

"Vacio! A 'Line' means a blood-!"-Tu Mei-

Suddenly, a few bunny women quickly subdued Tu Mie. One of them even covered Tu Mei's mouth in a similar way with kidnapping via chloroform.

"No time to talk you twins! We were about to leave anyway! I know you're tired buts its your fault for being late!" –random bunny woman-

Tu Mei was dragged away by multiple bunny women.

Tu Zi had it worse. She didn't even get a chance to speak when 5 bunny women grabbed all of her limbs. She was taken away kicking and screaming.

The bunny women were laughing and smiling.

In contrast, the Tu sisters were blushing profusely and were trying to shout something to Vacio. However, they were muffled by their older sisters.

"I know an outsider like me shouldn't meddle, but aren't they being a little rambunctious?"- Vacio-

He couldn't help but feel worried of the War Bunnies' overly physical show of affection

"Ha ha ha. We get that a lot. Not to worry. The older ones are merely celebrating the Tu twin's coming of age by a little teasing. I was subjected to the same thing when I was young"-Go Fei-

" _I kind of understand. When men horse around, a lot of people mistakenly think that they're really fighting."_ –Vacio-

"Anyway. When you are confident that you can start a Line, head north, go beyond the great wall and search for the Shadow Mane Khanate. That's the clan me and the Tu sister belong to. We'll then help you get your Line started."- Go Fei-

"Got it. See you in a few years!"-Vacio-

Vacio and the War Bunnies from the Shadow Mane Khanate parted ways.

Unbeknownst to Vacio, Go Fei and the bunny women were practically laughing all the way back to their home town.

They have successfully ensured that a powerful individual was going to join their clan.

Why?

What Go Fei didn't explain and what the Tu sisters were trying to warn Vacio, was that a 'Line' meant a BLOODLINE.

Just like the current Matriarch and her 7 husbands, Vacio may end up having a harem in order to pass on his superior genes to as many children as possible. The more children he produces with as many women as possible, the more soldiers the Shadow Mane Khanate has in the next generation.

If they could get Vacio to do the traditional rites, they could force a genius with unlimited potential to marry into their khanate!

The future of the Brown Mane Khanate was bright.

And it was all thanks to the Tu twin's fated meeting with the monstrous Vacio.

-:-

The next 2 days, Vacio did the one activity that he hated the most…. Job Hunting!

He was 13 years old and the only qualification he had did not exist in this world. There were no Boeings or Airbuses in not-ancient-china! He'd even settle for a gig as a crop duster, one of the job in aviation that was very prone to crashing!

Pretty much every potential employer he approached would only accept an apprentice AKA dirt cheap labor. The main problem was all of those dicks didn't even want to pay him! They wont even provide food or shelter!

" _I know I should have expected this from a Chinese themed world, but still! I cant believe scammers, thieves and assholes here are even worse modern china!"_ -Vacio-

Overly prevalent corruption was one of the shit loads of reasons why Vacio couldn't even stand a month in modern day China.

The main reason was the beyond lethal levels of pollution in the big cities.

However, the last place he tried to get employment made him realize that there was another criteria that caused him to be disqualified from any chance of working: He was a foreigner.

In short, Racism.

Vacio wasn't particularly mad though. He wasn't going to try to pretend that he has the moral high ground here. He may not show it, but he himself has some irrational racial hate.

Who was he to lecture others of racism?

However, it does make job hunting nigh impossible. And that is annoying.

" _At the very least, this world has clean air and drinkable water. For a shitty place to live in, not-ancient-china makes up for it with beautiful scenery."_ -Vacio-

The entire mountain side was converted into a bustling city. The higher you go up, the richer the people are. The 5 families at the very top were the de facto ruler of Bastion City.

At the moment, Vacio was in the lower-mid part of the massive mountain within Bastion City. He was on a bridge made of solid stone that joined 2 parts of Bastion City that was separated by a 40 meter drop into a valley down below.

From there he was in for a visual treat.

The misty forest that stretched as far as the eyes can see at the backdrop of the slowly rising sun.

" _Yup… 100 times better than the smog filled hellhole IRL"_ –Vacio-

It was another new day for the old man in a young man's body. While his plans of getting his very own military unit just smashed into a wall, he still had a few aces on his sleeves.

The first ace was he was now at level 14, or as the locals would call it, the 4th rank of the Advanced Realm.

With this, he took up the following classes in this specific order:

Lvl 7- Bard

Lvl 8- Bard

Lvl 9- Alchemist

Lvl 10- Blackguard

Lvl 11- Blackguard

Lvl 12- Blackguard

Lvl 13- Alchemist

Lvl 14- Alchemist

Which brought Vacio's class levels to: Bard-lvl 6, Alchemist- lvl 4, Blackguard- lvl 3, Fighter- lvl 1.

Vacio's choice might look chaotic and unplanned to the uninitiated, but there was an intricate plan hidden beneath the madness.

Vacio was doing some serious min-maxing.

Yggdrasil has over 2000 classes with requirements that ranged from the extremely straight forward to the 'you expect me to kick 2000 chickens in order to get the Chicken Bane Class?! Bullshit!'. Some even theorized that the requirements were completely randomized.

For example, Vacio's Bard in Yggdrasil was beaten in a one on one duel against his friend Momonga. Even though Vacio's items were chosen specifically to counter Momonga who was a death magic specialist, he still lost because Momonga used a skill that could bypass immunity to death magic.

Momonga wouldn't tell Vacio what this class was and how he got it. Understandable since information in Yggdrasil were very sacred.

The annoying part was some of these classes could only be taken at a very specific level with a very specific combination of classes.

Some could only be accessed at the level 90+s as long as the PC has met the requirements.

However, the harder classes to get were actually at the lower levels because they needed a combination specific skills, spells and classes in order to get them. And these requirements were needed to be met at an extremely low level, else they would be missed.

Now for Vacio's reasoning for the weird arrangement of his classes.

The reasoning for the bard and fighter was already expounded earlier.

Normally, he would have taken the first level of alchemist around level 8 because it was mostly useless at early levels. However, Vacio wanted to be able to make healing items as early as possible.

It was simply a precaution.

Now for the advanced class Blackguard. Just like any advanced class, it could only be taken at level 10 and above.

In order to explain why the Blackguard was taken at level 10-12, we must explain what **Feats** are.

Feats are special skills and abilities that were available to multiple classes but could only be learned at specific levels. Examples of such feats are Twin/Triplet Maximize Magic, Power Attack Mode, Cleave, etc.

Feats were available at level 9 and every 3 levels after that (9, 12, 15, 18, etc).

At the first level, one of the many skills the Blackguard gain is 'Use Poison' skill. It doesn't look like much on its own, but it actually synergizes with another class down the road.

At the second level, the most noteworthy skill was the passive skill Dark Blessing. This skill adds a portion of the Special stat into physical defense, magic defense, resist and all Saves.

Bards naturally had high Specials which were used in RP as the charm stat when speaking to NPCs, and more importantly the primary stat that influenced the strength and effectivity of their song magic.

This synergy was a match made in heaven.

With a well-planned build and the proper items, the Dark Blessing was capable of turning the support oriented Bard nearly unkillable tank.

Among the skills of the third level was Turn Undead, an x-per-day skill that could potentially one shot or heavily damage the undead.

In Yggdrasil lore, Blackguards were evil Paladins. And just like Paladins, Blackguard also has the access to the Cleric skill Turn Undead.

Turn Undead was not an amazing skill, but it was necessary in order to unlock one of two very important feats: Divine Might or Divine Shield

By sacrificing one charge of Turn Undead, the player can activate either Divine Might (temporarily adds a large portion of the special stat as unblockable damage into physical damage) or Divine Shield (temporarily adds a large portion of the special stat to phy. atk, phy. def, resist).

He chose Divine Shield for even more survivability.

Aside from getting the Divine Shield, Vacio has no intention of adding any more Black Guard levels. The last 2 levels had some interesting skills to offer but not enough to pay off the investment. Those 2 levels were better off spent elsewhere.

And lastly, in regards of Vacio's overall build.

While his build was still flexible at the moment, Vacio was planning to make his Bard an extremely versitile tank.

Now that he has the Dark Blessing and Divine Shield, the only class left to solidify his foundation was only available at level 21-23. If he missed out on any class or any skill that was required, he can kiss his versi-tank Bard good bye.

However, Vacio has been planning for this for a long time. There was no way he would make a mistake at this point in time. He only needed 1 more level of Alchemist and 5 more levels of another class in order to unlock the level 21-23 class.

However, there was one thing he needed that he wasn't sure how to get. For the perfect versi-tank Bard build, Vacio needed to become one of the Heteromorphic Race.

He didn't really need too much class levels in order to perfect his build. If his calculations were correct, his versi-tank Bard would be completed at the mid level 40's. The rest would be supplementary classes that boosted his core classes.

The best way to do this was to gain stats, passives, immunities and bonuses that was available in large quantities to Heteromorphic players.

Plus one to the many regrets Vacio has piled up since entering this world. If he only created a Heteromorphic PC, he wouldn't be in this predicament.

There was a way to change one's race, but it required a specific item given by a specific chain quest as a reward. Once that item is used, the PC's race would be locked and could no longer be changed.

The most annoying part was the required level for the quest was at level 40.

Well, its not like he has any way to actually do that quest given his current predicament. Never the less, he cant help but wish for something he doesn't have.

While he was in deep contemplation, an old man's voice forced him back to reality.

"Young man! Stop her! Quick!"-old man-

Before Vacio could turn around to see who the old man was, a female about the same age as his body was standing on the railing.

The girl could be described by 3 words: A White Mummy.

The girl wore a beautiful white silk dress that covered nearly every part of her body. The parts that weren't covered by clothes were wrapped in bandages. The most noteworthy apparel she had was a finely crafted mask that covered everything except her snow pale green bob cut hair.

She reminded Vacio of a plague victim. Someone who's appearance was so horrific that she was forced to cover it all.

If that were true, then it would be a big shame. The girl was wrapped in a very pretty package after all.

It didn't even take Vacio a millisecond how important this event was. This was most certainly the beginning of a high reward chain quest, and it all hinged on the white mummy girl.

Because this wasn't the first time Vacio has ever seen someone attempt suicide, he was able to react faster. Sadly, the moment the girl noticed Vacio's movement to stop her, she immediately jumped off

"You crazy bitch!"-Vacio-

Vacio jumped after her. He had to move quickly because there was a mere 40 meters till they hit the ground below.

He immediately caught up with the mummy girl.

Naturally the girl was surprised. She didn't expect anyone would risk their life for someone like her.

Originally, Vacio planned to keep to the 3rd tier of magic in order to keep a low profile. However, desperate times called for desperate action. He began casting as high as tier 6 spells on the white girl in rapid succession.

" **Hypnosis, Resistance, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Bark Skin** "-Vacio-

The tier 6 Hypnosis allowed Vacio to implant hypnotic suggestions into the white girl. For now, he hypnotized the girl into a trance so that her memory would be muddle.

The tier 5 Bark Skin covered her with armor made of tree bark. Due to Vacio's low level, it would probably disintegrate in one blow.

As they went down, he positioned himself at the white girl's side and aimed at the small pathways that zigzagged up the side of the cliff that was about 10 meters away.

" **Force Push** "-Vacio-

The girl was blasted into the cliff and slammed face first into the wall. She then landed on her back on the pathway. Thanks to Vacio's defensive buffs, the worst injury she had was a bloody nose and a painful butt.

Satisfied with the girl's safety, Vacio turned to his current predicament. He was now barely 20 meters from the ground.

He has a good old Yggdrasil trick that would save him, but he wasn't sure if it would work in this world.

With that in mind, he prepared for the worse.

" **Activate Song: Guardian's Hymn, Divine Shield, Bark Skin, Reinforce Armor**." –Vacio-

He wanted to cast more defensive buffs but he was too close to the ground. He can only pray that this trick still worked.

He aimed at the ground that was only 5 meters away.

" **Teleportation** "-Vacio-

His view distorted.

Instead of a loud and painful slam into the ground, Vacio disappeared from the air and appeared on his target location unharmed.

"HAHAHAHA! Still works like a charm! Awesome!"- Vacio-

The tier 5 Teleportation cuts a caster out of existence and pastes him at his target point. It doesn't carry the caster's momentum or directional movement.

This was one of the many tricks adrenaline junkies used in Yggdrasil. Jump from the highest cliff and just before they hit the rocks, they teleport to safe ground. Since Teleportation has a limited range, it would require some practice before perfectly nailing the timing. Greater Teleportation could make things much easier, but sadly, the Bard doesn't have that in its spell progression.

Vacio died quite a few times from the fall damage before he got it right.

Vacio turned his eyes skyward and spotted the mummy girl. She was staring down right at him with surprised eyes…. Or atleast that's what Vacio felt.

He also spotted the old man rushing down the small pathway towards the girl. From the looks of it, the old man cared for the girl quite a lot.

Vacio went up the path to meet with the two.

After 10 minutes of walking, he finally met the two.

"I apologize for the trouble and I thank you for saving my young lady. You didn't need to risk your life for an unknown stranger, yet you did. My name is Lao Wing. As long as within my capabilities, I would perform 1 task no matter its nature." -Lao Wing-

"That's fine. On the other hand, I need to give the little girl a piece of my mind"-Vacio-

Vacio turned to the girl.

"There are 2 reasons why people kill themselves. First, your death will save a lot of people. Second, your life is too painful and you want a way out. Which one are you?"Vacio-

He made sure to activate 'Poker Face', one of the many social skills of the Bard. He had a gut feeling that whatever was behind that mask, he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face.

If the mummy girl was going to be a central focus in whatever chain quest that was to follow, Vacio needed to give her a reason to trust him.

True enough, Vacio's speculation was right on the money

For a few silent seconds, mummy girl was shaking in rage. Eventually, she exploded into a tantrum.

"You wouldn't understand! You don't know me! You don't know how much I've suffered!" –mummy girl-

"Then by all means. Enlighten me"-Vacio-

The poor kid fell to Vacio's taunting so easily that it was sad.

She removed the mask and threw it to Vacio.

"There! Look at the face fate has given to me! Are you happy?! Are you satisfied?! Go ahead! LAUGH!"mummy girl-

" _OH MY F*CKING GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"_ -Vacio-

Thanks to 'Poker Face', Vacio looked calm and unmoved. In reality, he wanted to avert his eyes and back away as far as possible.

Why?

Because mummy girl's face was something out of a horror movie. Her face was slightly bloated with countless open wounds that weren't bleeding. Her cheeks were missing and all of the muscles were exposed for everyone to see.

He wasn't going to lie. It was a face not even a mother could love.

Fortunately, his 'Bardic Knowledge' filled in the details and it was rage inducing. He couldn't help but pity the girl for being a victim of circumstances.

At the moment, the mummy girl needed all the self-esteem she can get. The best way to do this was for Vacio to stay calm and give her hope.

"I can already tell that your life wasn't filled with rainbows and butterflies. However, it is no excuse for you to kill yourself. Its not like your condition is incurable."-Vacio-

""Eh?""- mummy girl and Lao Wing-

While the 2 were surprised, the face of distrust could also be seen in their face. Vacio understood it very well.

Based on the young lady's fancy clothing, the 2 belonged to some rich ass family. Lots of people probably knew about the mummy girl's condition and probably scammed the hell out of them with false promise of a cure.

Time to give her the much needed moral boost.

"Your affliction is called the 'Hyper Immune Carapace'. It is a state where your body's immune system is so strong that it wont allow any harmful substances inside. It instead redirects all the impurities into your skin. Its hard to cure but definitely curable" –Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio was just repeating what the Bardic Lore implanted in his head. He has absolutely no idea what a Hyper Immune Carapace is, but he was familiar of a certain quest that had mummy girl's condition. It was an Alchemist specific quest, so most people don't know about it.

If he could recall correctly, the level 20 quest name was 'Beauty of the Beast' where a young prince was afflicted with the Hyper Immune Carapace. It was a fairly long chain quest and by the end Vacio was able to get 2 levels from it.

By doing this quest alongside a few quests, it was easy to get 8-10 levels.

"And I guess you want something in return, correct? Money I assume?"- Lao Wing-

Lao Wing had a face full of disgust. An understandable reaction if Vacio considered the crap the scams he accidentally stepped into.

Vacio wanted the money. Very much as a matter of fact.

However, asking for monetary reward was the wrong answer in this situation. He decided to play the suave seducers Bards were supposed to be famous for.

He pointed at mummy girl and said…

"The second I cure you, you will become mine. You will leave behind your family, your wealth and whatever connection you have within your circle of acquaintances to become my woman!" –Vacio-

" _OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SO EMBARASSING! It sounded way better in my head!"_ –Vacio-

Vacio thought that given mummy girl's condition, she might have developed a Cinderella complex. She desired a prince charming that would whisk her away from all of her troubles. He wasn't sure if he was correct, but given the culture of this world, nothing was more suspicious than a free gift.

As expected, mummy girl and Lao Wing were dumbfounded.

Vacio wanted to kill himself so badly right now.

Unfortunately, the dice has been casted. His only choice was to power through.

"…. Oy…. Are you serious?"-Lao Wing-

"Very serious!"-Vacio-

"You expect me to believe that your motivation is out of lust for my young lady? No offense to my young mistress, but lusting after her is absolutely unthinkable. All of the people that have approached her were aiming for her family's wealth!" –Lao Wing-

Mummy girl was a little hurt by Lao Wing's words but she didn't deny them. They were true after all.

She had been deceived more than once in the past. People who wanted to be friends or even help her were all liars and thieves. She believed Vacio was no different

That's why his next words shocked her to her very core.

"And that's why I will not allow you to give me any money, any gifts, any food and pretty much anything. I'll fund my own escapades and search for my own materials. In return, I ask only 2 things that you can easily provide."-Vacio-

"And those are?"- Lao Wing-

"First is a place to do my work. The more isolated and the more unknown it is to the people, the better. I don't need anything fancy. A far flung cave, an abandoned shack or a dried up sewer will do. The second is for you to sell my products. You'll get 20% of the sales while I get the rest. I assume that's acceptable right?" –Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio was taking a hell lot of loss on this one. And the old man Lao Wing knew this.

"It does sound favorable… in fact it sounds too favorable for us. I still cant understand why you're practically working for free."-Lao Wing-

The Dragon Empire's culture was one based on corruption.

'Establishing friendly connections' is a fancy word for bribery. It also promotes the use of connections in order to get higher positions rather than skill.

The martial arts philosophy of 'Strength is everything' is an excuse that justifies bullying.

This was why the offer that excessively one side was met with great suspicion. There must be some underlying motive for such an offer.

While Vacio was after the EXP from her chain quest, he genuinely wanted to help the girl. Call it an old man's vanity if you will, but it pisses him off when a young kid suffered enough into suicide.

Sadly, the Dragon Empire's culture made it impossible to trust anyone.

Knowing this, Vacio decided to tell the truth aka lie even harder

He turned his gaze to the mummy girl. Her face was the stuff of nightmares, but thanks to his 'Poker Face' skill, he was able to pull off a gentle smile. He caressed her putrid skin and began spouting the most convincing bullshit he has ever mustered.

"It's because I can see beyond superficial looks. From my point of view, you are a victim of circumstances. Without this affliction, men would probably fight and kill for your favor. The way I see it, any loss I experience now would be totally worth it if I get to monopolize you" –Vacio-

"You… are disgustingly honest. Did you know that?"-mummy girl-

"I hate liars, and I pretty sure that you hate them too. I don't know how this corruption based culture of yours work, but from where I came from, trust cannot be built on a lie"-Vacio-

" _Even though a lot of what I said was a lie…. Teehee XP"_ –Vacio-

Mummy girl squirmed a bit. She was probably blushing but it was hard to tell given her not–so-pretty complexion.

Vacio couldn't help but sigh in relief. He wasn't sure if the random actions he copied from movies would work at all. Fortunately, it worked in spades.

"So, do we have a deal?" –Vacio-

Mummy girl and Lao Wing talked in secret for a bit. A few seconds later, they came to a conclusion.

"Since I feel that you are a righteous young, I will believe that you have the young lady's best interest at heart…. As for your desire to claim the young lady as your woman, that would be for the two of you to decide."- Lao Wing-

Mummy girl took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I-If you cure me, then you can have me. Aside from Old Lao Wing, everyone only wanted to talk to me for my money. Since you said that we weren't allowed to pay you, I guess I can allow myself to hope a little again."-Mummy Girl

"Then we have a deal. My name is Vacio and if you give me everything that you are, I will give you everything you ever wanted"-Vacio-

Once again, the line that sounded much better on his head was extremely lame when he heard himself say it.

"Y-yes. My name Shen Yun. Please take care of me."-Mummy Girl

"As I have stated earlier, my name is Lao Wing, the young lady's godfather. I thank you for not only saving my young lady, but also to help her in her condition. And while I know this may sound disrespectful, but may I ask how are you planning to cure the young lady? This condition is something she was born with after all." Lao Wing

Once again, the Bardic Lore provided the information Vacio needed about the subject… and it further pissed him off. Whoever did this to her was someone that needed a bit more suffering in his/her life.

"I can understand your mistrust. I am a 13 year old kid after all. However, age is not the measuring stick for knowledge and wisdom." –Vacio-

"What you say is true, but please understand. We have been scammed a few times by legitimate looking people for a fair bit of money. Make us go on wild goose chases in search for a 'Rainbow Weaving Leaf' or some other unheard of ingredients just to name a few." –Lao Wing-

"Hmm… Good point. The main ingredient for the cure is a potion called an 'Elixir'. Are you familiar with this?"-Vacio-

The main purpose of the 'Beauty of the Beast' quest line was to teach the player the diagrams for the most common alchemic items they could craft. Healing potions, mana potions, buff potions, poison bombs and smoke bombs were just to name a few.

At the very end of that quest line was the design for the Elixir which was said to be able to cure any disease. That wasn't exactly true, but it worked on the most common debuffs and poisons.

Lao Wing and Shen Yun's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Yes! We are familiar with that! It is a pricy medicine but not something out of reach. How much do we need?"-Lao Wing-

The two couldn't help but feel excited. All the quacks, scammers and incompetent doctors required some fancy ingredients because Shen Yun's affliction was beyond what they understood.

To think that the solution was so simple!

However, Vacio quickly squashed their hope of an easy cure.

"I've seen the elixirs around town when I was looking for a job. They're quality is crappy so I'd rather make it myself. As for the quantity…. An average elixir bottle is about 50ml... We need enough to completely submerge Shen Yun's entire body…. I guess 30 gallons worth of elixir would do the trick" –Vacio-

The 'Beauty of the Beast' quest line required the same amount in order to remove the poison that has built up on the prince's skin.

Shen Yun was much smaller than the Prince, so the amount might be less. However, Vacio wasn't taking any chances. Failure after mouthing off so much would be a painful kick to the nuts.

""T-THIRTY GALLONS?!"" –Lao Wing and Shen Yun-

An elixir was 80 gold per 50ml bottle. 30 gallons was about 2271 50ml bottles of elixir. 2271 bottles of elixirs were worth 181680 gold coins!

The Hou family might be one of the financial giants of Bastion City, but Shen Yun herself received very little support from her family. She has been treated as a plague since the day she was born. While she does receive an allowance, it wasn't big enough to make a dent in the 181680 gold coin price tag of the cure.

Only a handful of people openly support her. One of which is Lao Wing. However, even if Lao Wing forked all of his savings in addition to Shen Yun's savings, it was still nowhere near enough to pay even one fourth of the bill.

"Don't worry about the money. Based on what I've seen around the shops the past few days, the quality of elixirs in the market are too low for us to make use of it. We wont be spending a single gold towards the elixirs. If we want to make sure that you're healed 100%, I'm going to manually find the herbs and make the potions for myself" –Vacio-

While job hunting, Vacio discovered that nearly every item out there belonged to the Low Class Item rating. Even the more reputable establishment had middle class items at most.

He wasn't sure if this was because the creators of these items were third rate, or maybe it was because the stores were positioned where the middle class people could easily access it. Or maybe this was the best this world could offer.

Despite being only a level 4 Alchemist, Vacio could easily create any potion in a much higher quality compared to any of the alchemist and herbalists in Bastion City.

He tried to find out the selling price one of the experimental Moderate Healing Potions he crafted, and it a couple of alchemists went into a bidding war for it. It went as high as 120 gold for a piece.

Since he could do a much better job than pretty much every other manufacturer in Bastion City, he planned to abuse this and increase his financial might.

"For now, I need a place to work. Give me that and I'll show you what I can do." –Vacio-

Vacio picked up the mask on the ground and gave it back Shen Yun

"As a reward for give me everything that you are, I shall show you the world you always yearned for"-Vacio-

"Y-yes!"-Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't help but feel goosebumps crawl up his skin. He was never an arrogant person to begin with. Spouting overconfident and extremely lame lines made him want to hide under his bed in shame.

Just like any woman, the girl needed to know that someone desired her. This alone was a massive boost to her self-esteem.

And so, Vacio had no choice but to play the role of a seductive swashbuckler, much to his displeasure.

-:-

3 Hours Later

The massive mountain at the center of Bastion City was technically 5 mountains that were so close to each other that it was hard to distinguish one from the other. The largest mountain was right in the center while the smaller mountains were positioned at the north, south, east and west of the largest mountain.

Vacio, Lao Wing and Shen Yun were located on the western mountain of the massive Bastion City.

The trio moved up and around the western mountain until they reached a small ravine. It was an area that was near impossible to find unless the person knew what he was looking for.

Perfect for Vacio's childhood dream of setting up a secret evil laboratory.

Unfortunately, there was a very minor problem

"Tch… To think lowly bandits would occupy this location…"-Lao Wing-

There were about 5 of the most stereotypical bandit imaginable. Rugged, unclean and overly unpleasing to the eyes.3 of them were men and 2 were women.

Based on their attire, rusty straight swords and 'I haven't bathed in months' look, Vacio gauged them about the same level as that hobgoblin he killed with the bunny twins.

He would have been cautious back then, but he was level 14 at the moment and he got 2 levels the lore he got from the last few days of job hunting and from saving Shen Yun. So technically speaking, he was already level 16.

He hasn't leveled up yet because he has been talking to Shen Yun and Lao Wing all this time. They have been a great source of exp through Lore and listening to them was quite enjoying.

"*sigh*…. I never expected my old secret hideout have become home to lowlife… I better clear them out" –Lao Wing-

Lao Wing unsheathed his sword. But before he could make a move, Vacio stopped him.

"Hey old man, why don't you let me deal with this." –Vacio-

"Oh? Are you sure about that? To a 10th rank of the Master Realm like myself, the 5 10th rank of the Acolyte Realm are nothing to me. If you are to suggest such a thing, then you must be confident of your strength right?"-Lao Wing-

" _10_ _th_ _rank of the Master Realm… what is that again? Level 30? Not bad at all. He's the strongest one I've met so far." -_ Vacio-

However, Vacio couldn't help but feel a bit concerned. Lao Wing looked like he was at his late 50's and the best he could do was level 23? Was this how slow the leveling process was in this world?

That's a bad sign.

As of the moment, Vacio's leveling speed was slow compared to Yggdrasil standards, but it was way too fast in this world's standard. However, he wasn't sure if his leveling speed would remain this fast forever.

He wasn't sure how strong his future enemies are.

This uncertainty only solidified Vacio's commitment to starting a Line with the Tu sisters. Having lots of people would greatly increase his chance of survival.

But more importantly, Vacio needed to get to level 100 as fast as possible. Only at level 100 could he be confident enough to stand a fighting chance against any enemy he would meet in the future.

For now, he needed as much exp as he can get. Those 5 trash mobs might not look like much, but every exp was much appreciated.

"I fell 40 meters without a single scratch. That should be testament enough that I have my own set of party tricks, right?" –Vacio-

Lao Wing thought for a moment.

"…True… But why bother with these riffraff?"-Lao Wing-

Since cultivation doesn't require the martial artist to kill anyone in order to level up, the very idea of seeking battle baffled Lao Wing.

"You're a man right? It's pretty obvious that I'm going to use the small fries to look good in front of my woman!"-Vacio-

Vacio grabbed Shen Yun by the waist and pulled her close.

"W-W-W-Wha-?! I'm not your woman yet! You still have to heal me!"- Shen Yun-

"Ha ha ha ha! Resisting the inevitable is a waste of energy. I suggest you do something more constructive instead. How about thinking of a name for our children instead? Im a foreigner and my naming sense doesn't fit with the local dialect."-Vacio-

"Childr-! You rouge! Unhand me!" – Shen Yun -

Lao Wing couldn't help but smile at Vacio and Shen Yun's comical display.

He has spent so many years of his life protecting the daughter of his best friend, and it wasn't easy.

Shen Yun's condition has made her suffer greatly. She had no friends, no allies and while her mother was still very much alive, she did nothing to help Shen Yun. Shen Yun could do nothing but curl into a ball and hide from everyone.

The very idea that someone was able to playfully tease Shen Yun gave Lao Wing hope.

This little kid from a foreign land may be Shen Yun's salvation.

"Since you're confident, then by all means. However, I'll help out the moment that I believe that your life is in danger."-Lao Wing-

"Sure, but I doubt you'll get a chance to interfere." –Vacio-

Vacio let go of Shen Yun and stealthily approached the 5

Shen Yun's heart was a bit shaken. While she didn't enjoy being teased by Vacio, he was also the very first person her age to hug her so closely.

Due to her condition, the only one who was willing to have close contact with her was Lao Wing.

Because of this, her Cinderella Complex was already beyond its peak. Vacio, her prince charming, was about to charge into danger head first. She couldn't help but feel worried.

Vacio on the other hand wasn't too worried.

When he was teasing Shen Yun, the bandits didn't even realize that they were there. They weren't exactly quiet and they were still a fair ways off from the bandits, but that doesn't excuse how careless the bandits were.

A few seconds later, Vacio was hidden in a bush about 10 meters to where the bandits were located.

He closed his eyes to increase his levels.

For level 15 and 16, he took a level in Alchemist and Blacksmith. These 2 might will not help him in the upcoming battle, but these were integral requirements to his build as a whole.

" **Lesser Strength,** **Resistance, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Activate Song: Guardian's Hymn, Divine Shield** "-Vacio-

Truth be told, he wanted to use all of his defensive spells, but he decided against it. Using tier 4 and above would attract unwanted attention.

He took out 2 potions that he has crafted yesterday and drank it in one gulp. These potions where 'Ogre's Strength' and 'Fiend's Endurance' which increased his strength and defense respectively.

He took another bottle and applied a coat of oil unto his mace. This was 'Thorny Rose', an weapon coat that temporarily gives a weapon a chance to cause bleeding.

What his build severely lacked in magic, he would make up with the mixture of alchemy, armor, weapons and skills. In fact, his build was probably one of the most item dependent builds out there.

With his preparations finished, Vacio took out all of his javelins and attacked.

His first throw nailed one of the females in the head.

Sadly, the bandits were not goblins. They reacted far faster and had the annoying thing called a brain to guide them.

Instead of charging at Vacio like a deranged bull, they used the trees and bushes for cover. Vacio drained his entire stock of javelins without hitting anyone.

They may look like bandits but it was obvious that they had a fair bit of combat experience. They were probably ex-adventurers or really really experienced outlaws.

The second he threw and missed his last javelin, one of the bandits immediately closed in. He swung his sword into Vacio's neck.

Vacio blocked it with his mace, but at the same time….

" **Acid Javelin!** "-Vacio-

As they locked weapons, Vacio shot an Acid Javelin into the bandit's gut.

The beauty of this simple technique was that the enemy's line of sight was so busy staring into his face to notice anything outside his area of perception.

The bandit crumbled into the ground while screaming in agony.

Before Vacio could finish the bandit off, 2 more bandits catch him in a pincer attack.

Vacio parried the blow from the bandit coming from the right, but that left his left side unguarded.

The bandit on the left attacked with the confidence that he would chop off Vacio's arm.

Even Lao Wing and Shen Yun feared for Vacio's safety.

However, none of them expected what transpired next.

The sound of a sword hitting a thick metal shield echoed out the moment Vacio used his left arm to block the blow.

This surprised everyone around.

Whenever someone uses a martial art, experienced practitioners would feel a certain amount of spiritual energy or Chi being drawn into the martial artist's body. This was the reason why people could perform feats that defied common sense.

This was also one of the means to predict an opponent's movement.

However, not a spec of spiritual energy could be felt from Vacio.

To a martial artist, going against someone like Vacio was like a blind and deaf man going against a rabid tiger.

Adding the fact that bandit's rusty swords couldn't even pierce Vacio's skin, they were royally screwed.

After parrying, Vacio immediately launched a counter to the bandit on his left. He shifted his left arm in order to let the rusty blade slide off, and at the same time, smash his mace into the bandit's skull.

It was like using a sledgehammer to break an egg. He not only broke the egg, he also broke the table beneath it.

With a much higher stat due to leveling up, heavy defensive buffs and doping from potions, crushing a bunch of level 10s was child's play.

Vacio quickly changed target and charged at the bandit at the right.

The bandit tried to stab Vacio in the head, but Vacio was able to tilt his head slightly for the blade to graze his cheek.

He speared the bandit into a tree, effectively knocking the wind out of the outlaw.

Vacio separated from the bandit and quickly followed up with a brutal mace strike into the poor soul's chest. The blow was so strong that the bandit's ribs were effectively fish paste.

The first bandit and the remaining female bandit couldn't believe what they saw.

A mere 13 year old kid overpowering 5 full grown adults? How the hell was that realistic?

To think they would meet a monstrous genius like Vacio at a place like this. Bad luck wasn't enough to justify this!

"P-please! We'll never do bad things again! We'll turn in a new-" –first bandit-

The first bandit wasn't able finish his sentence because of his head exploded from the force Vacio's mace transmitted into his skull.

"Hiiii!"-female bandit-

The last remaining bandit decided to run for her life.

A wise decision albeit a futile one.

" **Acid Javelin!** "-Vacio-

It caught the bandit on her right leg. The pain caused her to hit the ground face first.

She tried to get up and use her remaining leg to hop.

Unfortunately, another acid javelin landed on her last good leg.

She desperately crawled to safety, but it was futile.

Vacio quickly caught up with her and dragged her back.

"Please! Have mercy! They forced me to do this! I didn't want to become an outlaw!"-female bandit-

"Regret doesn't erase your past crimes. Consider me as all the bad karma that you've racked up. That would make you feel a bit better" –Vacio-

"No! You cant do this! I'm a woman!"-female bandit-

This line pissed Vacio off to high heaven.

"I am a very firm believer of TRUE gender equality! If I, for example, bash a man's skull into paste, my conscience would never forgive me if I didn't do the same thing to a woman!"-Vacio-

"No! Please! Have Mercy!"-female bandit-

"Taste the gender equality women have always wanted!"-Vacio-

Vacio violently stomped on the bandit's head. Sadly the force was not strong enough to kill her in one go. He stomped on her head again and again and again until she stopped twitching.

He hated to admit it but he got a bit emotional there.

Vacio hated nothing more than a woman who thinks that she gets a free pass because she's a woman.

This disgusting use of the gender card was something his ex-wife used often.

With his upbringing, Vacio fell for it like a good little boy.

Well, not anymore! Be it man or woman, he'll show no mercy to those who deserved none!

" _Okay… Calm down…. Inhale… Exhale… phew"_ -Vacio-

He might not be an old man anymore, but he couldn't help but fall back to his old habits. Too much excitement nearly gave him a heart attack once.

He searched the corpse for any valuables, but sadly, he was disappointed.

Aside from their rusty weapons and a few coins, they were flat broke.

He wasn't really that surprised. Bandits were often people who were forced into it due to poverty. Morality often took the backseat when starvation was imminent.

He checked his condition.

Truth be told, he did receive damage from blocking that sword with his arm. However, it was so minor that Vacio wasn't really bothered by it.

At worst, it felt like he got hit by a baseball bat in the arm. There will be muscle pains here and there, but nothing major.

While Vacio was inspecting his body, the two caught finally caught up.

"That was amazing!"- Shen Yun -

Shen Yun launched herself at the unprepared Vacio, effectively knocking the wind right out of him.

"Even though they outnumbered you and even when they were larger than you, you still won! That was awesome!" – Shen Yun -

"Don't be so surprised. As my woman, you'll see a lot of those in the future. If you follow me faithfully, this type of performance wont be out of your reach"-Vacio-

"Really?"- Shen Yun -

"Naturally. Your body is my canvas. Entrust it to me and I will shape it into the form you have always desired"-Vacio-

"Yes! I believe you! I'll do whatever you want!" – Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't see her face because of the mask, but he was pretty sure she was smiling innocently. In her eyes, he could see absolute trust, fanatical faith and even a hint of love.

" _It hurts! It really hurts! Don't look at me with such innocent eyes!"_ –Vacio-

Vacio felt a bit guilty.

He knew that Shen Yun has suffered greatly despite her age. The suicide attempt was an obvious warning sign.

Shen Yun's mental state was at the point that she would madly fall in love with anyone that showed her sincere kindness. Her desire to be saved by her prince charming was so great that she would probably throw herself at her prince with reckless abaddon.

Vacio was quite worried on how to interact with her.

People who carelessly help someone who was mentally unstable were fools. More often than not, they would cause more harm than good.

Was he helping her the right way?

He wasn't sure.

He could only pray that it would work out in the end.

-:-

Lao Wing was part amazed, part thankful and part terrified.

As he watched over Vacio and Shen Yun inspects the small cave, a turmoil of thoughts were trying to figure out if Vacio was a blessing or a curse.

While Lao Wing may look like a 60+ year old man, he was actually over 120 years old. It was thanks to his high mastery of cultivation and secret cultivation techniques that allowed him to extend his life.

Add the fact that he was only 1 step below the realm of heroes, he could say that he was one of the strongest humans in the world.

However, for all of his strength, he was old and getting older still.

He wasn't sure how long he could remain beside Shen Yun.

Having someone like Vacio beside her would remove a massive burden off his shoulders. Having a friend, or even a lover, was ways better than suffering alone.

However, Lao Wing was a bit terrified of Vacio.

First, Vacio's knowledge and overall temperament.

Lao Wing has lived for 120 years. There was no way he wouldn't learn how to see through a person's character during that time.

He could tell that Vacio truly wanted to help Shen Yun in her dilemma, but the way he approached it was absolutely not something a 13 year old would do.

Lao Wing could easily tell that Vacio could read Shen Yun's emotional and mental state. He then led her by the nose and manipulated her feelings in order to get her to accept him quickly.

This type of wisdom and street smarts were something an experienced con artist or a politician would do…. Though the 2 doesn't have much difference from one another.

And don't get him started on Vacio's understanding of alchemy.

While Lao Wing didn't have any skill in the alchemic discipline, he became familiar with it over the many years of combat.

When he, Shen Yun and Vacio were heading to the secret hideout, Vacio asked Lao Wing of the location and availability of the materials required to make the elixir.

Lao Wing was shocked how precise Vacio described the possible locations of each material, their effect when mixed with the other materials and the potential risks if Vacio made a mistake during the brewing process.

All of these were taught to Lao Wing by his alchemist friends during a war a few decades ago.

How could a 13 year old know so much?

Second, his ungodly levels of combat prowess.

Those who have enough experience in cultivation and martial arts could tell that Vacio's background was certainly not ordinary.

Martial Artist unconsciously leaked Spiritual Energy just by breathing. When in combat, Martial Artists would often unleash massive amounts of spiritual energy in order to perform heaven defying feats.

However, Vacio did nothing of the sort. While his skill in the magical arts was a shocker, his absurd physical endurance without a single spec of spiritual energy was an enigma.

The sound of metal when a blade smashed into his arm was not normal!

Lao Wing initially thought that Vacio was born with a Supreme Body, but he quickly dismissed it. If that was the case, Vacio wouldn't have used so much defensive magic to protect his body.

However, Lao Wing was very doubtful that even the master class tier 3 spells was enough to completely block out the damage.

The only conclusion was that Vacio possessed a type of cultivation that vastly surpassed Lao Wing's comprehension.

The third and probably the most terrifying fact about Vacio were the 2 potions that he drank prior to the start of the battle.

Ogre's Strength and Fiend's Endurance were called by modern alchemists as 'Forbidden Potions'. These were performance enhancing drugs that temporarily boosted a person's power to dangerous levels.

The main reason why these were called Forbidden was because they were highly damaging to the body.

A few minutes after ingesting a Forbidden Potion, the person's body would begin rejecting the potion. Aside from a pale complexion, nausea, throwing up of gastric juices and internal hemorrhage, the person would be poisoned that would cripple a person if not quickly treated.

Lao Wing took such potions during the wars when he was about to make his last stand.

However, not only was Vacio not exhibiting any of the typical symptoms, he actually drank 2 at the same time!

How could Vacio still be alive and well after that?!

Lao Wing couldn't comprehend the absurdity that was Vacio

However, a few seconds of deep thought made him realize something

" _Don't tell me…. This kid is a user of the Northern Martial Arts?! To shrug off 2 Forbidden Potions, could he possibly a have the potential to become a god class Northern Martial Artist?!"_ –Lao Wing-

Unlike the Western, Eastern and Southern Martial Arts, the Northern Martial Arts was very easy entry curve for beginners before the learning curve suddenly shot straight up at the middle levels.

The first and last Northern Martial Artist to achieve a God class rating was the Black Beast of the North, one of the 4 Divine Gods and founder of the entire Northern Martial Arts Techniques.

Fear swelled within Lao Wing.

Was Vacio a guardian angel that would lead the world into a brighter future?

Or was he the demonic entity that would plunge the world into chaos?

-:-


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Beauty of the Beast (1)

-:-

3 Months Later

The Grind.

The prolonged boring, mind numbing chore of earning pitiful exp by repeating a task over and over and over again.

Vacio knew it was coming, but he never expected it would come so quickly.

Naturally, he wasn't going to stand by and allow this to continue

The easiest way to overcome this was to join the adventure guild, gather allies, take on quests, choose a random direction and go on an adventure.

Sadly, that doesn't work in this not-Chinese fantasy world

He did try to join the Adventurer's Guild, but it was immediately clear that this was impossible.

The pretty receptionist hid it well, but Vacio could tell her eyes flashed with opportunistic glee at the very sight of Vacio.

She explained to him that due to external threats such as spies and such, all foreigners must undergo a complex screening process before holding any sort of position in Bastion City or any city in the Dragon Empire.

However, she could make it all go away and save Vacio 8 months of paper pushing for a small fee of 10 gold.

If he desired specific quests or maybe be introduced to an influential quest giver, she could shuffle some papers for another 10 gold.

Naturally, that wasn't going to be the end of it, but Vacio no longer had the patience to listen.

With a calm smile, he said that he'll go prepare the money. He left and never came back.

Vacio wasn't really angry. Truth be told, he was expecting something like this to happen.

He did make a mental note that if ever the opportunity arises, he'll separate that receptionist's head from her body. Consider it as venting frustration.

Since becoming an adventurer was out, he decided to simply exit Bastion City and risk it on his own.

But he was stopped by the law once again.

The people guarding the wall allowed people of certain stature to enter and exit the wall without any fuss.

The War Bunnies were a prime example to this. If the guards ever tried to piss the War Bunnies off, not only will the nobles would try to appease the War Bunnies by firing them, the guards would also be used as sport for the War Bunnies sadistic games.

Other types of people that could come and go for free were Adventurers and Martial Artists that belonged to one of the many official Martial Sects in Bastion City.

Since Vacio couldn't use martial arts, joining a martial arts sect was impossible.

The rest, however, had to pay a 50 silver toll fee. And this was on top of the 'official' toll fee of 1 gold.

Once again, Vacio simply smiled, promised to prepare some money and never returned.

And of course, he promised himself to turn those guards into fish paste if the opportunity arises.

So yeah…. He had no choice but to grind exp by crafting.

Using the stuff he looted from the cart when he saved the Tu sisters, Vacio mass produced massive amounts of minor healing potions and had Lao Wing sell them.

Naturally, Vacio honored his bargain with Lao Wing and Shen Yun that 20% of his profits are theirs.

As a sign of good faith, Vacio let them have all the money until they sold all of the 1000 minor potions he provided.

During that time, Vacio lived on the 10 gold per week allowance Lao Wing gave him from the minor potion sales.

At the same time, Vacio went around gathering materials for the for the 30 gallon elixir. Aside from that, he mined ore, gathered herbs and performed experiments. It was surprisingly fun trying to make a completely unknown alchemic concoction while trying to avoid being blown to bits.

During the past 3 months, Vacio's mystery concoction (which he had absolutely no idea how he made it) exploded about 4 times a week.

…. And that's when things started to go an unexpected path…

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" -Vacio-

There was a small mountain of gold, silver and bronze on the moldy table they found in Vacio's secret hideout. This amount of gold was normally seen in the hands of mid level nobilities.

Quite simply, this was a fortune.

Lao Wing couldn't help but blush like a little girl as he began explaining the circumstances.

"Well, truth be told, I initially tried to sell your potions at a friend's place. He was an alchemist and a good man, so I was confident that he'd give me a good price. Much to my surprise, he went mad and asked who created the potion. He even went as far as he'd pay me 100 gold for the info on top of the 40 gold for the potion."-Lao Wing-

"Wha-.. Why?! I thought the going rate for a minor potion was 1 gold per bottle?" –Vacio-

Vacio couldn't help but be worried.

While he had some confidence that Lao Wing was an upright man, but who knows what was lurking beneath that kind old man façade.

Did he use it to gamble?

The answer Vacio received sort of coincided with his theory.

"Normally, yes. That is the going rate. However, did you know that your potions made via a method never before seen since the age of the 4 Divine Gods. Minor healing potions are blue in color and eventually rots as time passes. My friend called your potion as 'God's Blood' because it is more effective than standard potion. It also has no expiry date, so it could be stockpiled in large quantities. Since Bastion City is often subjected to monster attacks, a massive stockpile of curatives that doesn't rot is extremely attractive" –Lao Wing-

" _F*CK! Shit! I never thought that the Yggdrasil way of crafting was so superior to this world. If people discover I was the one that made this, I'll be dragged into a shitstorm!"_ -Vacio-

"Err… did you tell him who I was?"-Vacio-

"Of course not. I've been around long enough to know that exposing your identity is a serious mistake. I turned my friend down and told him that a Supreme Alchemy Expert just arrived in Bastion City and didn't want to be named. If the Supreme Expert was discovered, he'd kill me and the annoyance that knew his identity…. Or atleast that's how my story went." –Lao Wing-

Vacio gave him a thumbs up.

"Good Lie"-Vacio-

Lao Wing made a thumbs up as well.

"Don't underestimate an Old Geezer's wisdom"-Lao Wing

For now, Vacio could breathe easily. However, this unintentional spotlight will eventually find its way to him. He needed to prepare for the inevitable clash between him and the many greedy bastards of this world.

"And how the hell did you get this little mountain of money?"-Vacio-

"Well, since I knew how valuable this potion is, I decided to take it to an auction house in Bastion City's central mountain. Since the auction house was filled with experts in item identification, they could easily tell that your potions are a gold mine. I had them sell it by 50's…. and this is the result of selling 500 red potions. I couldn't stop laughing for days on end!" –Lao Wing-

"This much for only 500 red potions?! Are the buyers so rich that they could just throw hundreds of thousands of gold for a bunch of potions?"-Vacio-

"Technically, yes they are. However, I think they actually saved quite a bit of money on your potions. Potions have a shelf life of about a maximum of 3 months with preservation spells. If it isn't used, its thrown away. They then either buy one or have their personal alchemist make them a new one. Maintaining a personal alchemist is expensive to maintain. Why constantly spend money when your potions are so much more effective and it doesn't rot?" –Lao Wing-

"Meh… more for me then."-Vacio-

He counted the pile of money and was surprised how much it was.

"451992 for 500 potions?! Are you shitting me?! Even I feel ever so slightly guilty how overpriced my potions you know?"-Vacio-

"That's actually the fault of the many alchemist sects that were fighting over your potions. They jacked up the price so high that I thought I'd die from forcing myself to not laugh! And there's more! They're actually trying to bribe me to spill the beans on who you are! The 450k gold was chump change compared to the info! HAHAHAHAHA!" –Lao Wing-

"Oh! It's a shame that we have to refuse though! HAHAHAHA!"-Vacio-

""HAHAHAHAHAHA!"" –Lao Wing and Vacio-

The two couldn't help but laugh like villains in a B grade movie.

If the fancy pants were going to shell out so much money for a bunch of potions, imagine how much more they would spend on the other stuff Vacio had in the cave!

Of course, Vacio wasn't going to sell them the good stuff because he's reserving that for his future military unit

However, based on the crappy quality of weapons of the best weapon smith in the city, Vacio was confident he'd still make a killing even with his low quality works.

And thus they laughed.

Cheers to all their future customers/cash cows!

Viva La Capitalism!

"By the way, where's little Shen Yun?"-Lao Wing-

Vacio pointed to one of the sub caves.

Originally, the hideout was a single mid-sized cave. But after Vacio gained a few levels in the Blacksmith Class, he was able to make a pickaxe and a shovel with enchantments that allowed him to do some crazy excavation.

This allowed him to add 4 more sub caves to the hideout. Naturally, he added ventilations to avoid the possibility of someone repeating what he did to the goblin nest a few months ago.

One of those sub caves had a makeshift bed made up of fur Vacio looted from the goblins nest. On top of those nest was a young girl with short bleach green hair and modest clothing sleeping on top of it.

This was Shen Yun. If it wasn't for the horrific state of her skin, her appearance would have fanned the flames of lust of any man.

But those did not matter to Lao Wing. All he could see was a half naked Shen Yun sleeping on a man's bed. Like a good father figure, Lao Wing proceeded to beat the leaving daylights out of Vacio.

Before Vacio realized what happened, Lao Wing charged at him and pinned him up the wall.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO LAY YOUR HANDS ON SHEN YU?!"-Lao Wing-

The difference between levels became apparent.

Ever since 3 months ago, Vacio gained 4 levels and was about to reach level 21. It was slow as hell but that couldn't be helped with no quests, no monsters to kill and complete reliance on crafting exp.

All of these levels were spent into the Blacksmith Class in order to unlock the first core class in his build. While Blacksmiths do have balanced stat growth, it gave Vacio very little skills pertaining to combat.

With a big gap of 10 levels and his mediocre strength for his level, Vacio couldn't even put up a resistance.

"What the hell are you talking about?! Of course I laid my hands on her! How in gods name was I supposed to check her current condition if I don't touch her skin?!" –Vacio-

"Don't lie to me you fool! I know Shen Yun is practically worshiping you like a god! One word from you and she'll offer herself in a silver platter!" -Lao Wing-

"You perverted bastard! You think I'd touch a mentally and emotionally scarred person to satisfy my lust?! Don't group me with a withered penis like you!" –Vacio-

"HUH?! WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU LITTLE COCK SUCKER?!"-Lao Wing-

The next few minutes could be described as 2 children screaming crude insults at each other. Quite immature, especially when you take to account that both of them have a mental age above 60 years old.

Naturally, their screaming contest woke up Shen Yun.

She dashed between the 2 and broke up the fight.

"Uncle! Why are you attacking Vacio?!"-Shen Yun-

Naturally, both backed away from each other.

"I know you desire to give thanks to those who have helped you but throwing away your chastity is not the way to do it!"-Lao Wing-

"Wha-?!"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun blushed like the shy girl that she was…. Well at least that's what Vacio thought. It was really hard to pinpoint her facial expressions due to her mutated skin.

"Uncle you are so dirty minded! Me and Vacio were just training earlier. My dress was too thick, hot and heavy so I changed to a lighter set!" –Shen Yun-

Shen Yun's clothing consisted of something like a sports bra and shorts that reached all the way to her knees. While it did help increase mobility and flexibility, it was incredibly revealing by this world's standards.

"Oh…. You should have told me that! I'll let it slide for now."-Lao Wing-

Lao Wing was quite worried of how much time Shen Yun was spending with Vacio.

While Lao Wing wanted to spend his entire life protecting the daughter of his best friend, Shen Yun's family doesn't have the money to pay an Adamantine Adventurer like him to be her bodyguard. He was guarding Shen Yun absolutely free of charge.

Naturally, this meant that Lao Wing had to feed himself by taking requests from the Adventures Guild. This resulted in times when he wasn't able to see to Shen Yun's welfare for days on end.

Shen Yun's family actually tried to tempt him into serving THEM and not guarding Shen Yun, but Lao Wing owed Shen Yun's father far too much for him to bow to some petty rich families empty promises.

And besides, prior to him guarding Shen Yun, her family treated her like crap.

Shen Yun didn't show it, but Lao Wing could tell that she hated her family in a level beyond measure.

This same level of emotional intensity was now directed at Vacio in a very different form. In the past, she kept to the small house Lao Wing owned while reading books. With the level of bullying she experienced just by stepping out the door, it was pretty reasonable that she became a social recluse.

Now, she would spend every moment possible with Vacio.

Based on what Lao Wing witnessed during the last 3 months, Shen Yun has practically taken up the role of housewife. The only thing she hasn't done in the cave was to perform a wife's nightly duties.

Lao Wing has tons of misgivings with Shen Yun's current status, but watching her talk, laugh, get angry and being embarrassed with someone other than himself was just heart-warming and gut wrenching at the same time.

The fact that someone would accept her despite her affliction was a blessing and Lao Wing was eternally grateful.

As for Vacio, Lao Wing was much less suspicious than before.

He was sure that Vacio wasn't after Shen Yun's money.

After selling the potions, Vacio's wealth already exceeded Lao Wing and Shen Yun's by a large amount. Even for Shen Yun's family, 451992 gold was no small amount.

With such a small fortune, why would Vacio stick with Shen Yun despite incurring financial loss?

Lao Wing couldn't see any reason aside from pure kindness.

Lao Wing afforded himself the hope that through Vacio, Shen Yun has a shot of a good future.

As the 3 calmed down, Vacio segregated 20% of the potion sales (around 90400) and pushed it towards Lao Wing and Shen Yun.

"Your portion of the profit as promised. Use it well" –Vacio-

Lao Wing and Shen Yun were taken aback.

"We cant accept this! This is all thanks to your skills. This should be yours!" –Lao Wing-

"I promised I'd give you guys 20%. I stand by my word. I reward those who place their trust on me. And besides, consider this the dowry for Shen Yun. She is my woman after all. Not only that, she's the most perfect woman out in the world. Giving only a few thousands of gold for the perfect woman is practically highway robbery"-Vacio-

Shen Yun playfully punched Vacio in the side

"~Geez~" –Shen Yun-

In the past, Shen Yun would fiercely chastise Vacio for his offhand comments and flirting. It wasn't surprising that she'd get used to it after 3 months of constant teasing. Those who were looking from the outside would most certainly 2 young kids that have the severe case of puppy love…. albeit one of them had a horrific skin condition that required constant censorship.

Vacio had his 'Poker Face' skill active the entire time simply because Shen Yun's appearance was enough to send chills down his spine. It was literally impossible to keep his face straight when looking at her. This was especially true when he would suddenly hug her.

Fortunately, Shen Yun only had to endure her affliction a little longer.

"Anyways, I suggest you shut up and take my money coz my next announcement is going to blow you guys away!"-Vacio-

"Oh? Do tell"- Shen Yun-

"With the money Lao Wing earned us, I'll finally be able to get that big bath tub I've always wanted!" -Vacio-

Shen Yun and Lao Wing had the 'Why should we give a shit?' face.

"That's the earth shattering news? Gloating about your new bathtub?"-Lao Wing-

"Of course not. The big news is that in 2 weeks' time, Shen Yun is going to take a bath that will change her life!"-Vacio-

The 2 was silent for a second before a large smile bloomed in their faces.

"For real?! You're not lying are you?!"-Lao Wing-

"I've been spending the last 3 months going up the mountain and gathering materials. I only need a couple of more trips and it's good as done. After that, all I need is to cook the elixirs and have you take a long bath in it." –Vacio-

"Ha ha ha HAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY! I told you young lady! The heavens never abandoned you! They were just waiting for the right person to arrive!"-Lao Wing-

Lao Wing was so happy he hugged Shen Yun.

Shen Yun was silently crying tears of joy. Her suffering was very close to ending. Just a little bit more… all she needed to do was to endure it just a little bit more.

"While the elixir and the bathtub are things we can finish on our own, we still have a slight problem"-Vacio-

Lao Wing and Shen Yun turned serious at Vacio's words.

"Problem? What is it?"-Lao Wing-

"The Hyper Immune Carapace shifts all the impurities in the body into the skin. This means that the entire layer of the outer skin is highly poisonous. The elixir bath functions as a powerful acid that melts the impurities off. Since the poison is fused into your skin, melting it off will sting quite a bit." –Vacio-

The 2 weren't particularly surprised.

There was no way the affliction that plagued Shen Yu for her entire life could possibly be healed without any pain.

Shen Yun could do nothing but bite the bullet and endure the pain.

"How much pain do I have to endure?" –Shen Yun-

"Im not entirely sure. I never experienced it myself. But based on records, its about a constant 4 on the scale of 1 to 10. It's painful but not something that will cause you to scream. The main problem is that you have to endure it for quite a long time"-Vacio-

"How long?"-Shen Yun-

"8 hours at least. 12 at most."-Vacio-

The 3 went silent for a bit. True enough, a frail 13 year old girl enduring constant pain for hours on end was quite a bit of a pickle.

While the answer stumped Vacio and Shen Yun, Lao Wing had the perfect solution.

"Hmm… If that's the case, why not just have the young lady perform a cultivation method while she's taking the acid bath?" –Lao Wing-

"Eh? Why?"-Vacio-

Lao Wing looked at Vacio with dumbfounded eyes. He wondered how Vacio didn't know one of the basics of cultivation despite being extremely strong.

However, Lao Wing quickly deduced that Vacio was a foreigner. His cultivation method was probably much different than that used in the Dragon Empire. If that's the case, then it couldn't be helped

"The basic of any cultivation is entering into a state of nothingness. At this point, the person's senses are dulled to a degree. I think if the level of pain is something within tolerable limits, Shen Yun could power through it no problem. Not only will she be able to endure the cure, she'll also take her fist steps into the martial path."-Lao Wing-

"That sounds good! Why don't you teach Shen Yun your cultivation? That way, we can be ready in two weeks time" –Vacio-

Lao Wing made a difficult face.

" _Typical quests … making things more complicated than its supposed to be.…"_ -Vacio-

"It's not like I don't want to teach Shen Yun my cultivation arts, it's just she cant learn them. I tried to teach her the method, but her body rejected it completely. This happens when a person tries to learn a cultivation method that is vastly different to their nature"-Lao Wing-

Vacio turned to Shen Yun for confirmation

"Uncle is right. I tried learning his Floating Heaven Feather Arts but the moment I cultivated it, I experienced pain. I guess the fast and graceful Floating Heaven Feather Arts is simply not for me"-Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't help but cringe at Lao Wing's cultivation. He has no problem with its speed type doctrine…. Its just that the name sounded weird.

Way too many words with very little connection with each other. Chalk it up as different tastes due to cultural difference.

Anyways, about martial arts.

In the Dragon Empire, pretty much every martial arts, cultivation techniques and combat logic in general was inspired from the 4 Divine Gods and their legendary fighting styles.

The 4 base styles of every martial arts in the Dragon Empire were as follows:

First: Western Martial Arts AKA White Tiger Arts.

Known for its high speed, high damage and extremely aggressive fighting style, the Western Martial Artists were the people who would keep attacking until their enemy was reduced into chunks of meat. They often sacrifice protection and armor in favor of speed and agility.

Pretty much your typical high DPS builds. This also made the Western Arts a crowd favorite.

Lao Wing's Floating Heaven Feather Arts belonged to the Western Martial Arts.

Second: Eastern Martial Arts AKA Azure Dragon Arts

Master of defensive combat and counter attacks, the Eastern Martial Artists were some of the most frustrating people to kill. They were often depicted as slow moving people clad in heavy armor. What they lacked in offense, they more than made up in survivability.

Typical Tanks in every sense of the word. This was the main reason why armies and bodyguards favor this style.

Staying alive is awesome you know?

Third: Southern Martial Arts AKA Vermilion Bird Arts

The Southern Arts focused more on using Spiritual Energy than physical attacks. Due to this, they would often perform some of the flashiest and most powerful attacks known in martial arts. Not to mention, as long as they had Spiritual Energy, they could maintain a fairly good defense. Depending on specialty, they also could heal their allies.

Sadly, because of their high impact actions, they get tired very easily.

Quite simply, they were the Glass Canon mages of martial arts.

Forth: Northern Martial Arts AKA Black Tortoise Arts

The best word to describe the Northern Arts was 'Dirty. It has no preset move set, no particular specialty, no weapon or armor restrictions. Winning against any opponent in any situation by any means possible was at the core of the Northern Arts.

While it lacked any heavy hitting technique of the West or the defensive counters of the East, Northern arts were unmatched when rules are flushed down the toilet. Poison, ambush, hidden weapons, movement skills, psychological warfare, doping and many more were used in this art.

Northern Arts practitioners were often labeled as cheaters, dishonorable and cowards.

For this reason, the Northern Arts was widely used by bandits, adventurers and assassins.

Annoyingly enough, there was thousands of martial arts cultivation that branch out from these 4 base arts. The main concern of Vacio, Lao Wing and Shen Yun was which of the thousands perfectly suited Shen Yun.

"For now, let me try something. If this works, I'll be able to get some general info on which martial arts you have affinity to"-Vacio-

"… It wont hurt, right?"-Shen Yun-

"Not really. At the very least, taking your chastity will hurt so much more compared to-"-Vacio-

Shen Yun slapped Vacio in the face with all of her strength. A red palm mark etched itself into Vacio's left cheek.

"I admit I deserved that one. However, it doesn't change the fact that what I'm about to do is painless. I'm just going to look into your eyes. That's it."-Vacio-

Though Shen Yun was still a bit steamed of Vacio's latest sexual harassment, she obediently offered her herself to him.

Vacio positioned himself in very close proximity to Shen Yun. If he moved ever so slightly forward, he would literally kiss Shen Yun.

Shen Yun was breathing very hard at this point. Due to her circumstances, the closet anyone has ever gotten to her was her mother who bashed her face in during one of her mother's random drunken rage.

If she simply puckered her lips, she could easily kiss Vacio. While the temptation was great, she held it in and let Vacio do his thing.

Vacio activated one of the bard's extremely many near useless skill: 'In-depth Analysis'

In-depth Analysis uses the PC's lore score in order to read all the information regarding a certain person or item.

Information was power in Yggdrasil, so In-depth Analysis could be considered one of the most valuable skills out there.

Naturally, there were downsides.

For one, In-depth Analysis required the user to stare without moving at the person/item for one whole minute. That alone made it unusable in combat where even a millisecond slower is the difference of victory and defeat.

Another downside was that the person/item needed to be in very close range. No one in their right mind would allow the enemy to approach nearer than the range of their spells or weapons. By the time Vacio was in range for the In-depth Analysis, the enemy would have bashed him to bits.

Long story short, aside from NPCs and RP related events, In-depth Analysis was absolutely useless.

However, since it was one of many freebie skills of the Bard, might as well use it when the opportunity presented itself.

After 1 minute, the information flooded into Vacio's brain. It was not what he expected.

 **Name** : Shen Yun

 **Alignment** : Lawful Evil

 **Sense of Jutice** : -100

 **Racial Level** : None

 **Job Level** : None

 **HP** : 1

 **MP** : 0

 **Phy. Atk** : 2

 **Phy. Def** : 0

 **Agility** : 0

 **Mag Atk** : 0

 **Mag Def** : 0

 **Resist** : 0

 **Special** : 0

" _Holy crap! She's level 0?! And those stats! What the hell!"_ -Vacio-

He used In-depth Analysis in the past on a random kid he hypnotized and even that kid had 1 level in Villager! Villager Kid X has probably never killed anyone, yet he has 1 level!

Yet was Shen Yun a level 0?

Why?

However, the stats did Vacio a vague idea on what Shen Yun's forte was.

Even at level 0, she had 1 in HP and 2 in strength with no agility, defense, magic attack or resistance. If this was any indication, Shen Yun was more of the heavy hitting melee build with mediocre move speed.

He wasn't sure if his guess was correct but it was the only lead he had.

"No wonder you cant learn Lao Wing's cultivation. You may be the perfect woman, but you don't fit the frail and gentle princess archetype. While I'm not 100% sure, I think there's a high chance that you're more suited to for a 'whirling tornado of steel that leaves decapitated bodies in your wake' type of cultivation" –Vacio-

Shen Yun was taken aback by Vacio's words. Those doesn't sound like the perfect girl she had in mind!

"D-does it displease you? That I'm compatible with an ungraceful fighting style that is."- Shen Yun-

Vacio met her insecurities with a sudden hug.

"Hahahaha! What are you talking about! This news just made you even more perfect! I despise women who's only selling point is them being beautiful damsels in distress! If my guess is correct, your heavy offensive style will be a very good fit to my lock down defense." –Vacio-

Shen Yun smiled gently as she savored Vacio's hug. Sadly, her skin condition made her smile look like something out of a horror film.

Lao Wing wanted to kick Vacio in the nuts for the sudden hug, but held himself back. He understood that Vacio was once again manipulating Shen Yun's emotion in order for her to have a better impression of herself.

"Now we only need the proper cultivation method and we're good to go."-Vacio-

And here lies the problem

Cultivation manuals were rare, expensive as hell and were fiercely guarded by the Sects that horde them. Just like Yggdrasil, information was extremely valuable.

The main ways to get them was either to join a Sect and be dragged into the never ending wars between other Sects, or impress a 'supreme expert' (sounds stupid but that's what they call them in this world) and have him give it for free.

Neither paths were open to Vacio, hence his predicament.

Fortunately, Lao Wing had the solution.

"Then we're in luck. There's a martial arts tournament this weekend arranged by the largest sects in Bastion City. They've been going around the 5 mountains of Bastion City and it's finally the west mountain's turn. The reward for becoming the champion is the right to borrow a cultivation of the winner's choice for one month." –Lao Wing-

Martial Arts Tournament. You cant have a martial arts themed world without a martial arts tournament.

Why?

Coz REASONS!

And it was one of the most effective means for sects to spot gullible pawns/talented youths in order to recruit them in the never ending power struggle between sects.

Vacio wasn't particularly surprised that the cultivation methods could only be borrowed for a short amount of time. Even the lowest of cultivation methods was more valuable that a human life. Like Yggdrasil, information in this world had its weight in bodycounts.

No way they were going to just give it away. Apparently, the cultivation manuals have some sort of a tracking device or spell implanted in them. No way they were going to risk someone stealing their cultivation manuals.

"Any info on the prizes?"-Vacio-

"Sadly no. All they said was that they'll bring a large amount cultivation and allow the winner to read the first part of one of them, thus giving the winner the first step into a new path of cultivation.. Naturally, they'll watch over you to make sure that you don't do anything stupid"-Lao Wing-

While the lack of info does made Vacio a bit nervous, the quest drought has been hurting his exp gain quite a lot. He wasn't going to let this one pass no matter what.

Normally, he would try to find info on the quest specifics like which included enemy info, quest rewards, sudden plot twists and many others.

Sadly, desperation has driven him to act against his better judgement.

"Then let's not waste any time. How do I enter this tournament?"-Vacio-

"If that's the case, we need to move fast. The registration ends today. I can still pull some strings but only if we get there in time!"- Lao Wing-

-:-

3 Hours Later

Western Mountain's Main Town

The area the competition was to be held was an arena-like structure. Pretty standard for the typical tournament arc of a shonen anime.

Unfortunately, Lao Wing was the only one that could enter the arena.

Vacio was denied access because he was a foreigner. The Dragon Empire really despised foreigners for some reason.

In the subject of a foreigner joining the martial arts tournament, Lao Wing said that he'd handle it.

Vacio had no idea what Lao Wing meant by that, but he has a gut feeling that it had to do with the fact that the tournament's organizer was a woman. For an old guy, Lao Wing was quite the player.

Shen Yun was actually allowed access into the arena, but she didn't want to enter.

Her condition was well known throughout Bastion City, and that was a bad thing. As long as Lao Wing was not around, she would be the receiving end of stones, water balloons and pretty much any solid object that could be hurled at her.

Aside from that, there were the painful words that were casually spoken within earshot.

To her, being around people was extremely painful. Nearly everyone in this god forsaken city was her enemy.

Because of this, Vacio and Shen Yun decided to stroll around the city while Lao Wing performed his 'magic'.

Due to their circumstances, the 2 walked around the more unpopulated roads, back alleys and less popular tourist destinations.

Shen Yun shyly walked 1 step behind Vacio. Her heart was beating like a deranged drummer who was high on drugs.

How many times has she dreamt of this type of situation?

To take a peaceful and carefree stroll with her lover by her side. She was pretty sure every girl had such thoughts at least once in their lifetime.

Due to Shen Yun and her unfortunate circumstances, this particular day dream was one of her more fierce desires.

Having someone fulfill this desire along with many events that she thought was beyond her, the past 3 months was the happiest moment of her god forsaken life.

Mind you, she has never stopped doubting Vacio. For all she knew, he was just performing an extremely elaborate act to get her trust. He might even use her to milk her family dry.

This particular fear had always been in the back of her mind…. And truth be told, she didn't mind if this came to pass.

So what if her family burns?

They treated her like garbage prior to Lao Wing's arrival.

So what if Vacio was using her to get to her family's wealth?

If he only asked, Shen Yun wouldn't hesitate to give him everything he desired.

So what if this happiness was nothing more than an illusion?

The world and nearly everything in it has done nothing but put her through one misery after another. If she could live in this joyful lie forever, the world can burn for all she cares.

And thus, she walked behind Vacio with a joyful smile beneath her steel mask.

Quite a few times she tried to hold Vacio's hand. Unfortunately, she chickened out in every attempt.

Naturally, Vacio noticed this. It was quite adorable to witness to such innocence.

With this in mind, Vacio forcefully grabbed Shen Yun's hand and pulled her beside him.

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is to talk to someone who is behind you? As my woman, your place is by my side. Get used to it."-Vacio-

FYI: Vacio was using a line from some love novel he failed to finish in the past. Romance novels were mind numbingly boring so he never bothered finishing any of them.

He wasn't sure if his words were doing the effect he desired. He could only pray that his pitiful acting skills were doing the trick

Shen Yun's face would have been red as a tomato if it wasn't for the mask she wore and her skin condition. She could only cuddle into Vacio's arm in response.

"Hey Vacio… I know you're a goal oriented person. Why are you going out of your way to make me happy with nothing in return?"-Shen Yun-

The unexpectedly serious question caught Vacio off guard.

" _Oh shit! This wasn't how the conversation progressed in the novel! How am I supposed to answer this?! Should I BS with flowery words?... No…. If she has any place in my military unit, I need her to understand my motivations."_ –Vacio-

With that in mind, Vacio decided to tell her the truth.

"I guess its time to tell you what's my goal. Once I have enough money and an acceptable number of allies, I'm planning to leave Bastion City and head north."-Vacio-

"North? As in beyond the great wall? Why?"-Shen Yun-

"The Shadow Mane War Bunnies offered me the opportunity to start a 'Line' with their support. The main reason why I'm going to go through any lengths to help you is because I'm planning on making you my right hand in my Line." –Vacio-

Shen Yun couldn't help but gasp.

War Bunnies believed that strength and greatness were hereditary. This was the main reason why they only married the strongest.

To the War Bunnies, a Line's founder was a position reserved for individuals akin to Warlords or Emperors.

When a War Bunny Khanate offered to support a Line, this was a sign that they believed that Vacio's potential was that great.

Since his Line belonged to the Shadow Mane, him and his children would automatically feel a sense of obligation to protect the Khanate. The perfect trap to get powerful soldiers.

What shook Shen Yun to the core was that the right hand position of any Line was reserved for the main wife/husband of the Line's harem. The right hand's authority within the Line was almost as good as the Line's founder.

If Vacio's power was truly worthy of a Line Founder's position, then Shen Yun would become something of a Queen!

And Vacio chose a weak and powerless Shen Yun to be his main wife?!

She was both honored and terrified.

However, Vacio only knew that a Line was nothing more than a military unit. He didn't know what he was stepping into.

"Er… do you have a problem with my plan?"-Vacio-

"No! no no no! Absolutely no problem! …. But I'm concern of your choice…. The right hand of a Line is often reserved for someone that has great strength… I'll gladly join your line if you desire me to do so…. But my weakness doesn't fit the right hand's positon"-Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't help but sigh at Shen Yun's lack of confidence. It was understandable given her past experience, but to think she would follow him regardless of knowing full well her inadequacy.

Was Vacio's brain washing a little too effective?

Anyways, he had absolutely no intention of keeping Shen Yun in the bottom feeder level.

"Shen Yun, your lack of strength is something similar to your skin condition. The solution is a bit of a headache but it's temporary. All you need to do is watch me remove your weakness. In return I will give you everything you have ever desired."-Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio was pulling a lot out of his ass at the moment.

He had no idea how this world's Martial Arts worked.

Even if he does get those martial arts scrolls, would they work on Shen Yun?

And don't get him started on the whole 'cultivation' thing. While he understood the general premise, he has next to no clue on the inner workings.

However, the main problem lied on Shen Yun herself. She was a girl peaceful girl that has inhumane level of rage pent up in her.

Vacio's plan of making Shen Yun his trusted wingman hinged on him finding a way to make her unleash her anger without turning her into a deranged killer.

" _Those Sith in Star Wars deserve a hell lot of praise. Turning someone to the Dark Side is HARD!"-_ Vacio-

Fortunately, the perfect scenario quickly presented itself to them.

While the 2 were flirting, Vacio quickly turned around and caught a rock that was hurled at Shen Yun.

There were 8 people in total. 5 of them around 15 years of age and 3 of them were around their 20s. They looked very rich and had ugly smiles plastered in their faces.

"Well well well. Look what we have here. A foreign rat and the plague girl out on a little date. How fitting for 2 scums to get together"-1 of the of the kids-

""HAHAHAHAHA!""

This was the typical entrance scene for nameless npcs that were about to die in order to feed the protagonist's emotional growth.

Quite sad really.

Shen Yun quickly hid behind Vacio. This was a clear sign that she had dealings with this particular group in the past.

"So? What do you guys want?" –Vacio-

Vacio knew where this was going but he decided to ask anyway. Its fairly fun to act out a scene that he has read in web novels so many times.

"You see, I just stepped into the 6th Acolyte realm. I was hoping to test my strength to the absolute limit. Since I might end up 'accidentally' killing someone if I did that, I cant use it on anyone in particular. But fortunately, you two aren't anyone at all! You're just a couple of trash that no one would notice if I 'accidentally' do something 'bad'! I do hope that you'd cooperate. hehehehe"-rich snob 1-

" _So it really went down that route huh…. *sigh*… I guess this is a good time to bloody up Shen Yun's hands"_ -Vacio-

"I don't mind being your sparring partner as long as you don't mind if I fight back."-Vacio-

The rich snobs paused then laughed out loud. They didn't expect Vacio to react that why.

"HAHAHAHA! Sure! Fight back all you want! I, Wei Xen, will gladly 'spar' with you!"-rich snob 1-

Rich snob 1 step forward with his eyes excited of the prospect of killing another foreign rat.

The Dragon Empire was well known to be unwelcoming to foreigners. They believed that everyone that was born outside their realm were uncultured barbarians. While they officially didn't support the murders of foreigners, they do next to nothing to prevent racial crimes.

Because of this, Shen Yun fearfully tried to stop Vacio. She grabbed Vacio's shirt and whispered a word of warning.

"Please don't! Wei Xen is one of the disciples of the Iron Claw School. If anything happens to him, you'll have a school with at least 2000 members as enemies!"-Shen Yun-

She knew that Vacio was much stronger than any of them, but he was only one person against an entire organization. There was a big reason why the 'Strength in Numbers' has been one of the most effective strategies in warfare.

However, one of Vacio's forte happened to be the direct counter to fighting against numerical superiority.

"Shen Yun, I told you earlier that I would find a way to remove your weakness. While I didn't expect the opportunity to arise so early, I've decided to give you your first lesson. I'll apologize in advance for the emotional pain I am about to cause you, but this is a necessity for your rise to power."-Vacio-

"Eh?"-Shen Yun-

Before she could further inquire what he meant, Vacio walked up to Rich Snob 1.

"Well then, whenever you're rea-"-Vacio-

" **Wester Martial Arts: Raging Claw Strike!** "-Rich Snob 1-

A powerful blow landed on Vacio's gutt.

As one would expect from the Western Styles, the attack came in quick and was brutally straight forward in its intent of making Vacio's intestines into a bloody stew.

Rich Snob's groopies couldn't help but feel admiration for Rich Snob's power. He wasnt one of the shining starts of the Iron Claw's young generation for nothing. They were pretty sure that Vacio's insides turned into nothingness

"Hoo…. So this is the martial arts of the Iron Claw. It looked like it was a simple punch, but the speed was quite decent and there was even air pressure during the strike. Pretty standard shonen manga punch. "-Vacio-

"WHA-!"-Rich Snob 1-

Rich snob 1 jumped back and was shocked to see that Vacio wasn't injured at all. While he held back a little in order to hear Vacio scream in agony, there was still enough force in his punch to smash a rock.

Even the peanut gallery was silence by the scene. They have seen many times the effect of Rich Snob 1's punch, so the very idea that Vaci was unharmed was mind boggling.

"Can I ask a question? Why do you scream out the name of your attack? Are martial arts voice activated? Or maybe it's a combination of physical action and voice? And why is your attack called Raging CLAW Strike? There is no 'Claw' in a closed fist punch. I was actually expecting an attack similar to that of a tiger swipe or something"-Vacio-

FYI: Vacio wasn't berating them or anything. He was 100% curious how martial arts worked.

Did they use MP?

Or was it a X times per day type of skill?

Was it spammable?

Was the damage based on weapon stat or purely the PC's stat?

Truth be told, Vacio wanted to use martial arts. However, the whole Chi thing was his greatest roadblock.

He used to be a fan of the long running Naruto manga franchise (not the anime), so it would be understandable if he felt a little disappointed that he couldn't do ninjutsu-like things.

Well, he could still hope, right?

"You… What Martial Arts did you use?! No way you could have taken my Raging Claw without injuries!"-Rich Snob 1-

Vacio couldn't help but smile guilty.

Truth be told, he was using a cheat of sorts. To be accurate, not only was he 14 levels higher than Rich Snob 1, his build was that of the Versi-Tank. While he'll never see big numbers from his attacks, he was confident that he'll never see big numbers from taking any and all attacks.

And like any good Tank, his items were top notch.

The items he wore were a light leather shirt, pants and shoes made from animal skin. They weren't as comfortable as the lighter cloths that majority of the populous preferred, but it didn't stand out due to its wide availability.

However, his clothes had a bit of a not so special gimmick thanks to his blacksmith class.

Blacksmiths and its advance class were the only classes that could upgrade armor and weapons. How high the upgrade level was dependent on how much levels were invested in the smith classes. The highest upgrade level was +20 (10 from blacksmith, 10 from advance class).

Since Vacio had only 5 levels in his Blacksmith class, the highest he could go was +5. He wanted to go higher, but the first core class of his build locks both Blacksmith and Alchemist at level 5.

Quite a shame really since there were awesome stuff that could only be made with a high level crafting class.

Vacio sported a +5 light leather armor, +5 light leather pants and +5 light leather boots. These were nothing more than Low Class items but the +5 upgrade pushed their performance up to Medium Class.

Now for some simple math

Tank Character + Defensive items + a gap of 14 levels = It didn't even itch

Vacio couldn't help but laugh awkwardly

"So… Er… Nice weather we're having. Clear blue skies, the birds singing in the air, the dew-" –Vacio-

"DIE!"-Rich Snob 1-

Rich Snob 1 launched a hailstorm of Raging Claws.

Unlike the first time, Vacio dodged, parried and blocked.

He realized that taking and shrugging off the Raging Claw revealed too much of his abilities. He wasn't sure who was watching and he preferred if he didn't reveal his aces so early in the game.

Vacio bobbed and weaved as Rich Snob 1 unleashed his entire wrath.

"What's the matter?! Why aren't you fighting back?! Is running the only thing you can do you coward?!"-Rich Snob 1-

At that moment Vacio caught Rich Snob's left hand.

Rich Snob tried to escape but Vacio's grip was like a mountain pressing down on the earth. It wouldn't budge no matter how much he struggled.

Rich Snob repeatedly attacked the Vacio's hand with his free arm but that hand was also caught after the 3rd strike.

"If that's what you want, who am I to deny you." -Vacio-

Vacio smashed his head into Rich Snob's cranium. Then he did it again and again and again.

To Rich Snob, it was like he ran head first into a brick wall.

The first hit bloodied Rich Snob's nose. The second, broken teeth. The third…..

"Please! Stop!"-Rich Snob 1-

Vacio unhanded him.

Rich Snob was in so much pain that he curled into fetal position as he nursed his injuries.

"You must be a newbie to the Iron Claw Clan. I suggest you don't pick fights while throwing the name of your sect around. It's really embarrassing when a new guy ends lose this pathetically"-Vacio-

Vacio kicked Rich Snob to his groupies. He flew a good 8 feet before he belly flopped on the rock hard ground.

"Control your weaklings will you? This loss will most certainly be a stain in your sects name. I'll make sure of it! MWHAHAHAHAHA! I'll scream on the top of my lungs that Rich Snob Wei Shen was beaten into a pitiful rag doll by me!"-Vacio-

FYI: Vacio was intentionally provoking them.

They were an essential part of his plan to unleash Shen Yun's inner rage in a controlled manner. No way he'd let them leave.

"You bastard! Let's see who's talking after we're done with you" –NPC 1-

As expected of disposable NPCs, they took the bait so easily it was painful. They drew their weapons and attacked in unison.

Since they were adamant on fighting dirty, Vacio decided to act in kind.

"BRING IT ON!" –Vacio-

Out of nowhere, he drew decently sized one sided battle axe. This was his latest and strongest creation yet. It was a medium class item at best with a +5 upgrade.

He understand that the axe was overkill against people below level 10, but he needed to test his creations to the quality works of other crafters.

In this regard, he was in luck. Rich Snob's peanut gallery was just as rich as their leader.

Based on appearance alone, their weapons and armor was made by highly skilled craftsman. They looked even fancier than his basic looking axe.

"EAT THIS!"-mob 1-

The mob closest to Vacio wielded a fancy straight sword alongside his equally fancy body armor.

Mob 1 was confident that Vacio's axe wouldn't put a single scratch on him. Both sword and armor were crafted by the finest smith guild in Bastion City with a price to match. There was no way the finest arms would lose to some nobody's weapon.

Personally, Vacio was prepared that his axe would break the second it touched mob 1's sword. Based on appearance alone, Mob 1's artwork of a sword was much stronger than Vacio's basic looking axe.

His survival greatly relied on his arms. There was no way he'll rest easy if his arsenal was subpar.

In this weapons test, Vacio estimated he would lose about 5-7 weapons. An annoying yet necessary loss in order to improve his craft.

However, just like everything else, things did not go according to plan.

The second their weapons connected, Vacio's battle axe cleaves through the fancy sword like a hot knife through butter. The fancy armor also did not help as the battle axe smashed through it and the person inside it. Mob 1 was easily cleaved in half.

It felt like time stopped at that point.

Rich Snob's groopies felt a very real sense of fear. Vacio's weapon looked like something out of a bargain bin, yet the finest weapon and armor money could buy couldn't stop it.

That only means that the wielder had monstrous strength…. And they pissed him off.

On the other hand, Vacio stopped for a very different reason.

" _Holy crap…. THEIR ARMORS ARE WEAK! Were they scammed? Did the smith make it pretty while skimping on defensive power? Was the seller a professional conman? "_ -Vacio-

Vacio couldn't comprehend why his battle axe won against Mob 1's armaments.

Lesson: Looks are deceiving.

As for the others….

"I don't know where you guys bought your stuff, but I suggest you demand your money back. You guys were obviously duped. I mean, the sword broke so easily-"-Vacio-

"YOU BASTARD!"-Mob 2-

Before Vacio could finish his sentence 2 of the 4 remaining mobs attacked him. The other 2 remained where they were out of fear and confusion.

Vacio parried Mob 2's attack then quickly followed with a punch to the chin in order to daze him. He then used his battle axe to split Mob 2's head in half.

He wanted to avoid damaging the weapons and armors of the remaining mobs in order to bring them back for some in-depth study.

Mob 3 launched himself in the air and screamed…

" **Western Arts: Tiger Lunges at Prey!** "-Mob 2-

Vacio could help but cringe at this world's weird naming sense.

One thing was for sure though, the name didn't reflect how powerful the move was.

Mob 2's speed of decent was so fast that Vacio only able to dodge it by a hair. It looked like Mob 2 was much stronger than the others. Now that Vacio looked at him closely, Mob 2 was already at his 30's but had a surprisingly baby face.

No wonder he was stronger than the rest

But it didn't end there. The moment Mob 2 landed on the ground…

" **Western Arts: Tiger Swipes at Prey!** "-Mob 2-

Vacio was buffeted with a flurry of swings and stabs. He parried and blocked what he could but Mob 2 was able to sneak in a couple of hits. They were bearable due to Vacio's massive HP and naturally Defense, but he wasn't able to counter attack due to Mob 2's higher speed.

Odds are, Mob 2 was very close to Vacio's level.

With that in mind, Vacio concluded that he no longer had the leisure to hold back.

" **Disorienting Noise** "-Vacio-

A loud and hard to comprehend sound echoed throughout the alley

Due to their close proximity, the effect of Disorienting Noise caused Mob 2 to drop to his knees.

Vacio quickly capitalized.

" **Acid Javelin** "-Vacio-

Mob 2 ate a face full of highly corrosive liquid.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH!"-Mob 2-

As Mob 2 withered in agony, Vacio hacked the poor soul like one those serial killers in the horror movies. Vacio couldn't kill him immediately due to how close their levels are and Vacio's average strength. By the 12th blow, Mob 2 finally stopped twitching.

The rest of the mobs were frozen solid.

To think Mob 2, someone who was 7th ranked in the Advance Realm (Level 17) was defeated by someone much younger than him.

The mobs knew of the geniuses in Bastion City, thus they knew when to swallow their pride and kneel. However, who would have thought that someone much stronger than the current geniuses of the young generation was hidden within the foreign rats?!

Mob 3 quickly prostrated.

"I deeply apologize for our transgression! Had we known that you were someone of power, we would have never crossed your esteemed path!"-Mob 3-

"This mindset is why I despise your worthless culture. You'd crush anyone weaker than you yet you'd beg for mercy when someone is much stronger than you. Isnt it a bit pathetic? "-Vacio-

"It is truly pathetic! Please show mercy!"-Mob 3-

Vacio couldn't help but be amused of mob 3's groveling.

"Mercy? Why? How many foreigners have you killed without mercy?"- Vacio-

"I swear I'll change my ways! I'll never do it again! Please great hero, show me-"-Mob 3-

"Damn straight you'll never do it again! And just to be clear, I am no hero. I'm actually a villain!"-Vacio-

Vacio raised his axe, and with a last pitiful squeal, Mob 3's head was hacked off.

Mob 4 came to his senses and started running for dear life. Unfortunately for him, Vacio had no intention leaving anyone alive.

He took a throwing knife and threw it at the fleeing enemy. The knife sunk into Mob 4's shoulder.

Though it was not a fatal wound, Mob 4 fell face flat on the floor and started twitching uncontrollably. His mouth foamed and his eyes drew to the back of his head. After a few more seconds, Mob 4 stopped moving.

The beauty of having both Alchemist and Blacksmith class was the ability to make both poison and the weapon that would be coated in it.

Vacio wanted to test how effective his poison was, thus he chose the weakest one in his arsenal. Sadly, Mob 4 was so weak that he died before Vacio could even approach and observe the effects.

And thus, only the injured Rich Snob remained alive.

Vacio grabbed Rich Snob and dragged him in front of Shen Yun.

Vacio then presented his battle axe to Shen Yun and said….

"Kill him"-Vacio-

"Eh?"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun couldn't help but double take. She has never killed anyone before. Hell, she has never even harmed anyone before, yet Vacio was telling her to kill?

"This guy wronged you a lot in the past, no? You have every right to get revenge."-Vacio-

Shen Yun turned to Rich Snob

"Please have mercy! I know what I've done in the past was wrong! I will make amends! I swear it! Tell me whatever you want and I'll spare no effort to give it to you! Just don't kill me!"-Rich Snob-

Shen Yun was confused and terrified. While she did promise to herself that she would do whatever Vacio required of her, her pacifist personality conflicted greatly with Vacio's order.

"V-Vacio… he seems to be repenti-"-Shen Yun-

While in mid-sentence, Vacio snuck behind Shen Yun and ripped off her mask.

The effect was instantaneous.

"GOOD LORD! YOU DISGUSTING MONSTER! STAY AWAY FROM ME! DON'T TOUCH ME YOU FILTH! "-Rich Snob-

" _Just as planned"_ -Vacio-

Shen Yun drew back out of fear but Vacio grabbed her by the arm and prevented her from leaving.

"It would have been okay in the past for you to turn a blind eye, but you are now MY woman! You dare allow this piece of filth insult my woman?! The very idea of throwing slander at you is a crime worthy of death! Hate him for all he has done to you! Kill him! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"-Vacio-

Rich Snob realized what Vacio was planning and tried to salvage the situation.

Unfortunately, Shen Yun finally snapped.

"Aaaa! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"-Shen Yun-

She grabbed Vacio's battle axe and swung down with all the strength she could muster into Rich Snob's chest. Due to being Level 0, Shen Yun wasn't able to kill Rich Snob in one strike.

However, all of her pent up rage, anger and frustration gave her nigh infinite strength. Her weak and delicate body swung down the axe again and again and again and again.

After the 5th swing, Rich Snob died a pitiful death. Yet Shen Yun didn't stop hitting the corpse.

After the 20th swing, Shen Yun finally lost all strength. She dropped the battle axe and dropped to her knees. She was like a puppet that lost her strings. It was as if she lost her soul.

After a few moments of silence…

"Pfftt… ha ha ha ha….. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun laughed from the top of her lungs. If you disregarded her face, the sound of her voice was that of girlish laughter of joy and relief. It was quite sweet to listen to.

Eventually, Shen Yun fainted.

Vacio carried to a nearby wall and let her sleep.

He then proceeded to do some clean up work.

He wondered how to dispose of the bodies. He could try to melt it or burn it, but that would take too much time.

Then he was struck with inspiration.

He grabbed Rich Snob's corpse and tried to shove it into his inventory. Surprisingly, it went off without a hitch.

In his mind, the notification "Item: Corpse X1 received" popped up.

But now that he thought about it, there have been corpse items in Yggdrasil.

He shoved all the bodies until there was nothing left.

Well, that was one problem down. Now, only the surroundings remained. There were signs of struggle and a couple of blood pools here and there. He wasn't entirely sure how advance the forensic science of this world was, but he'd rather not risk leaving any evidence that would eventually lead back to him.

With that in mind, he decided to destroy everything alongside the evidence.

" **Activate Skill: Detect Heart Beat** "-Vacio-

Detect Heart Beat was a Bard specific skill used to gauge if someone was lying. While it could only be used outside combat, the range of 500 meters was nothing to be scoffed at.

Since the Bard Class wasn't popular in Yggdrasil, only a small number of players knew how to abuse this skill to its fullest.

Since it detected 'Heart Beats' specifically, it could detect all living things within its area of effect. It could even negate invisibility and other cloaking skills/spells. This made Bards very hard to ambush.

Using this, Vacio was able to confirm that there was no humanoids within a 200 meter radius. He found it very suspicious how little people there was. It was as if people were being blocked from entering the area.

Did Rich snob pay off someone to keep all people out?

It was possible.

However, that was also gave Vacio a very big chance.

He took out all of the Incendiary Bombs and Shrapnel Bombs he crafted. He placed them around the area where there were traces of combat. He attached a fuse so long that he was able to buy a few minutes before the bombs exploded.

He lit the fuse, grabbed Shen Yun and ran as fast and as stealthy as possible.

Around 5 minutes later, explosions and a fierce firestorm engulfed the area.

During the confusion, Vacio and Shen Yun slipped out unnoticed.

-:-


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Beauty of the Beast (2)

-:-

3 Days Later

The last 3 days went by peacefully

Sort of…

Shen Yun didn't come to Vacio's cave during that time. Apparently, she sat in a daze and stared at nothing for extended periods of time.

Lao Wing found this suspicious and asked Vacio what happened.

Naturally, Vacio told him everything.

While Vacio had the option to lie, he didn't want any bad blood between him and Lao Wing. He was one of 2 allies Vacio could trust after all.

Lao Wing's reaction was as you'd expected from an overly protective father….. he beat Vacio within an inch of his life.

Every morning for the last 3 days, Lao Wing would come to the cave, beat the stuffing out of Vacio, then proceeded to converse normally.

Vacio deserved the beatings, so he didn't stop Lao Wing from doing it.

Lao Wing also understood what Vacio was trying to do. He himself had to perform this particular shock therapy in the past, so he didn't hold any negative feelings towards Vacio. However, he believed that he was entitled to be angry at the psychological pain that Vacio forced Shen Yun to experience.

On the flip side, thanks to the heroic sacrifice of Rich Snob and his Mobs, Vacio finally got the first core class of his entire build!

The Trickster Class!

The Trickster was one of the hardest class to get because of its annoyingly steep requirements.

First: 5 Levels in both Alchemist and Blacksmith Classes. No more, no less.

The annoying part was that when someone took up even a single level in the Trickster Class, both Alchemist and Blacksmith classes could no longer gain any levels. This instantly removed the advance classes of both class out of the picture.

Quite a shame really. The Artificer (Alchemist advance class) and the Forge Bound (Blacksmith advance class) had access to some of the best items in the game.

Second: The Trickster was only available from level 21 to 25.

No clue who decided this requirement, but it was downright annoying. Most people never stay too long in the level 20-40s because leveling up in Yggdrasil was very easy. Who would have thought a hidden class could only be available at low levels?

Third: A large number of skills.

To clarify, this was SKILLS not SPELLS. Feats were also not counted as skills.

In order to learn the large amount of skills before level 21 and still had enough levels to satisfy 5 levels of Alchemist and Blacksmith requirements, there were only a handful of classes that could pull it off.

These class were: Ranger, Rogue and Bard

In Yggdrasil, the Rogue had the highest number of skills that could be learned but it lacked versatility and survivability. This ran against Vacio's versi-tank build, thus was scrapped.

While Rangers had the second highest skill gain in Yggdrasil and was versatile enough to survive in most situations, Vacio never tried it before. If he wasn't stuck in a fantasy world, he would have experimented with the Ranger versi-tank build. It would probably be a good fit for the Trickster Class.

But alas, his circumstances didn't allow any mistakes.

And thus the Bard was chosen. Because it could learn large amounts of skills, Vacio had some leeway to shove in 1 Fighter and 3 Blackguard levels in there.

Because of these strict requirements, there were only a handful of people who were able to stumble on the Trickster class. As far as Vacio's knowledge goes, he was one of 4 Tricksters in Yggdrasil.

Anways, on to the Trickster class.

In on itself, the Trickster was not a particularly powerful class. Its stat growth is balanced and it has zero spells in its repertoire.

However, the main thing that made the Trickster stand out among the others was that it could craft some very weird 'trick' items that were not available in any other class. It was also the only class that specialized in consumable items.

It doesn't sound strong, right?

Correct.

In on itself, the Trickster class was never strong to begin with. It was meant as a supplementary class to strengthen other classes.

However, that doesn't mean that the Trickster cant pull any punches. If anything, Tricksters could pull so much punches that people often scream in frustration when dealing with one. Just like the name suggests, a Trickster has so much tricks in its sleeve to the point that people accuse them of cheating.

From potion buffs, hidden blades, weaponized armor, poisonous smoke bombs to weapons/armors with special gimmicks, the Trickster was meant to be pain in the ass to deal with.

The prime example of these 'trick' items was the silver left Arm Guard that Vacio has painstakingly crafted over the last 3 days.

Based on appearance, it was a typical heavy armored Arm Guard. However, it has a hidden blade by the wrist, elbow and finger nails. It has a hidden throwing blade container in the shoulder armor. It also has a snake blade that doubles as a grappling hook hidden in the back fist area of the armor.

And to top it all off, all of these hidden weapons could be coated with poison.

Vacio couldn't wait till level 10 of the Trickster class. That's where the fun toys were at.

Anyways, Vacio learned yesterday that the people of this world should not be underestimated. He was caught off guard by Mob 2 a few days earlier. Because of his negligence, Mob 2 was able to land some decent blows that could have been lethal if it wasn't for Vacio's tank build.

He has to be extra cautious with Martial Arts. Not only were there as many martial arts as there were stars in the sky, Vacio also lacked information on how it all worked.

With that in mind, he crafted the best items available to him for the upcoming martial arts tournament.

Aside from the highly 'customized' left arm guard, he had a black heavy leather armor complete with hoodie and nasty looking skull mace. Every last one of them was +5 enhanced and the mace was enchanted to deal additional unholy damage.

Last but not the last was a pearl white Hannya Mask.

Truth be told, the mask offered no defensive bonuses, but Lao Wing insisted that Vacio wore some sort of mask during the competition.

Vacio didn't really complain. The people of the Dragon Empire were very racist against foreigners, so wearing a mask was already given.

Why a Hannya mask?

It looked very scary. That's pretty much it.

With that, Vacio's preparation was complete.

While Vacio and Lao Wing were discussing the potential threats in the tournament, Shen Yun entered the cave.

"Shen Yun! You came here all by yourself?! Are you alright?"-Lao Wing-

"I'm fine uncle. I took a longer route to avoid anyone. It took a while but I am unharmed"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun approached Vacio and quickly gave him a hug.

Vacio was caught off guard and was wondering what's up.

"Thank you Vacio. I know it took me a while, but I finally understood why you made me do such a cruel thing."-Shen Yun-

"Oh? Let's hear what life lesson you have learned out of that one"-Vacio-

"You were trying to teach me 2 things. First, I should never take anything lying down. I have the power to fight back, all I needed to do was actually fight back"-Shen Yun-

"Very good! You got that one right. What's the second lesson?"-Vacio-

"The second one was more connected to martial arts than an actual life lesson. The road of martial arts is one filled with death. Since I desire to walk the path with you, I will bloody my hands with your enemies. If that's the case, I really do need to become stronger"-Shen Yun-

"I-I see…. Good insight"-Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio only had the first lesson in mind. The second lesson was the extremist psychopathic crap that he wanted Shen Yun to avoid. Unfortunately, the solid will within her voice overwhelmed Vacio to the point that he was rendered speechless.

He just hoped that Shen Yun's already smart brain could see through the difference between loyalty and fanaticism.

"*sigh*… I was going to slowly introduce you to the harsh world of martial arts in a year or so, but I guess this works fine"-Lao Wing-

"Thank you for your concern uncle. With you and Vacio at my side, I can do anything!"-Shen Yun-

Lao Wing could only sigh like a father seeing off his daughter for marriage.

Vacio on the other hand was a bit nervous. The way Shen Yun delivered that last line made Vacio felt like something went terribly wrong when he awakened Shen Yun's determination.

She still gave off the aura of a kind and cultured girl… but Vacio's nerves was telling him that something was off.

"… _. Man… I'll just have to hope for the best…"_ -Vacio-

The 3 of them spent their time together in peaceful bliss for the remainder of the day

-:-

The Next Day

The tournament has finally arrived.

The tournament's venue was in the Western Mountain Martial Arts Arena.

The arena was a knock off of the Roman Colosseum except for a slightly elevated platform where the contestants would do battle.

There was a ceremony but it was so mind numblingly boring that Vacio was in a constant daze all through out.

There was a part where the big sects of Bastion City introduced themselves, but Vacio couldn't remember any of it. He was probably asleep at the time.

He'll have to ask Lao Wing and Shen Yun about it.

The ceremony lasted almost an hour. The speakers must really love listening to their voice.

After that, the tournament finally started…. Thank god

Shen Yun and Lao Wing were positioned in the VIP stands. Normally, Shen Yun didn't have the right to be there, but Lao Wing was an Adamantine Adventurer. That alone gave him the right to forcefully get Shen Yun a seat.

The VIP seats were normally reserved for the big sects and such, but Lao Wing's strength was already beyond question.

No one would dare piss him off.

If anything, the sects would do their best to rope him in…. even if they had to bend some rules to sell some favors to Lao Wing.

Vacio's right to participate and wear a mask was the result of this.

The tournament was a simple elimination match. Due to the big names that were participating in the tournament, most of the third rate sects were scared off. Vacio only needed to fight 3 times in order to win as the tournament.

Anyways, Vacio had the first battle of the tournament.

He was introduced as "X" the first and only protégé that Lao Wing.

Lao Wing was known to refuse any disciples no matter how high the mountain of gold was stacked in front of him. For him to have a protégé piqued everyone's curiosity.

In fact, he could tell that some politics were at work behind the scenes, because his very first opponent was recognized as the most powerful among Bastion City's young generation.

It seemed that the sects were trying to test Lao Wing's protégé.

Vacio entered the large ring and met his opponent face to face.

"My name Xi Lua. I am 18 years old and a disciple from the Heavenly Palms Sect. I am currently at the 5th rank of the Advanced Realm. It's a pleasure to meet you"-Xi Lua-

Xi Lua made a very comprehensive introduction as he gave Vacio the martial arts greeting. Vacio kept silent and returned the greeting.

It was obvious that Xi Lua was trying to scare Vacio away.

Based on Lao Wing's explanation, using items to aid in martial cultivation must start after reaching 15 years of age. Any time before that would cause irreparable damage to the 'meridians'

…. More Chinese fantasy jargon… Great…

Apparently, this was the main reason why the bunny twins Vacio met in the past were only level 7 despite their age. The Tu Twins underwent their 'coming of age' trial because they just turned 15.

From that point onward, they can finally start cultivating with the aid of items.

In the case of Xi Lua, he used his introduction to drive a couple of points home.

First: Xi Lua was of the Heavenly Palms Sect. He the number 1 disciple of the most powerful sect in Bastion City, thus possessed the 'Heavenly Palm', the strongest martial art among the sects.

Second: He was 18 years old, thus had tons of cultivating items pumped into his system over the course of 3 years.

Lastly: He was level 15. Apparently, a teenager above level 10 was called a genius.

Either way, it didn't really mean anything to Vacio.

Vacio took his fighting stance.

While he did have his skull mace strapped on his back, he wasn't planning to use it against the tournament participants. That was only in case of emergencies.

Xi Lua sneered at Vacio. It seemed like Xi Lua was underestimating him.

"Mr. X. I understand your desire to prove yourself in front of many, but I implore you to surrender. The injuries I might cause you could end your martial arts career. For your own good, please forfeit."-Xi Lua-

It seemed that Xi Lua was really full of himself.

It was actually a wise strategy to convince his enemy to submit. He has to fight 2 more times after all. Conserving his energy was a must.

Unfortunately, Vacio had no intention of going with his plan.

" _Cocky ass bastard"_ -Vacio-

Vacio maintained his posture and slowly began to approach Xi Lua.

"Heh… Suit yourself X."-Xi Lua-

There was around 5 meters separating them, yet Xi Lua thrusted his palm at Vacio's direction. A shockwave rippled out of his palm and slammed into Vacio.

This was the Western Arts: Empty Force. One of the basic maneuvers of the Heavenly Palms technique.

Normally, enemies who get hit by it head on would be blown back and panic. The one that you didn't see coming will often be the one that hurts the most.

Much to the surprise over Xi Lua and everyone in the arena, Vacio didn't even notice he was under attack.

That wasn't accurate.

Vacio did realize that Xi Lua attacked him. He was actually welcoming it.

If Xi Lua was truly the strongest among the young generation, then Vacio would get a good idea of the enemies that was to come by fighting him.

He allowed Xi Lua to land a hit.

Unfortunately, Xi Lua's empty force was met with an impenetrable wall of Vacio's heavily enhanced armor and natural defenses. As a result, Xi Lua's attack resulted in Zero damage.

Lao Wing told Vacio that the Heavenly Palm's strength was in close quarters combat. Thus, Vacio needed to go closer if he wanted to experience its full might.

Vacio charged as fast as he could towards Xi Lua. During the charge, he casted Shield Wall, Resistance, Reinforce Armor and activated the song: Guardian's Hymn

Xi Lua launched strike after strike but Vacio simply shrugged it off.

When they were at striking distance of each other…

"YOU'RE FINISHED!"- Xi Lua-

Xi Lua strike landed on top of Vacio's chest, which was enough to kill a normal person. Then he launched a barrage of strikes at the same spot.

Vacio did feel that he received damage. Unfortunately, the buffs alongside his armor and natural defense called out most of it. The damage was so miniscule that it was pathetic.

Xi Lua was no slouch. He quickly noticed that his strikes did nothing. He tried to jump back and gain some distance, but it was already too late.

Here's a martial arts question to the readers.

What is the main weakness of a Martial Art that relied solely on strikes?

Answer: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu!

Due to their close proximity, Vacio speared Xi Lua and was able to force him to the ground with ease.

Xi Lua was shocked.

Despite the big differences in size between the 13 year old Vaico and the 18 year old Xi Lua, the child ran over him like a deranged bull. Once Vacio established a mounted position, Xi Lua felt like a damn mountain was pressing over him.

Xi Lua launched palm strike after palm strike in a desperate attempt to break free.

If it wasn't for the loud shock waves that Xi Lua's palm was generating, it actually looked like a rape scene. Imagine, a 13 year old kid raping an 18 year old man. It was quite hilarious to look at.

And just like any rape scene, the 2 struggled greatly on the ground.

Eventually, Vacio caught Xi Lua's body in position where both of them couldn't throw any strikes.

This world's martial arts were all about flashy moves and over the top (yet hilariously named) techniques. The very sight of a stationary and low energy ground grappling battle caused a fair bit of the stupider audience to boo.

On the other hand, the experts were shocked to see what was happening.

The Heavenly Palm was known for its phenomenal fire power, yet it was being negated on the ground.

A few more seconds of ground struggle…..

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGG!"-Xi Lua-

Vacio was able to get Xi Lua in one of the most popular MMA grapples there is, the Armbar.

Xi Lua tried to break free but it was like he was chained to a boulder. Nothing he did made Vacio budge.

Vacio was a big fan of MMA. He even took classes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu out of sheer fanboyness. He wasn't a pro by any stretch, but he could pull of a successful submission 20% of the time. For an old timer like him to go up against the young crowd and still pull of a rare win was not bad at all.

Anyways, back to the match.

The main difference between an official MMA match and a fantasy martial arts tournament was the level of damage one can inflict to his enemy. In the fantasy martial arts tournament, Vacio could use any level of attack (even magic) as long as it could be healed by magic.

And without further ado….

" **Lesser Strength** "-Vacio

Vacio ramped up the strength of his armbar. Because Xi Lua had natural defenses of his own, it took Vacio 30 seconds of full force pulling before…. SNAP.

"IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUUUUUURTS!"-Xi Lua-

Xi Lua's arm was bent 90 degrees the wrong way.

Vacio quickly let go and moved to the other arm.

Xi Lua was in so much pain that he wasn't able to put up a resistance until it was too late. Once again, he switch to the other arm and performed the same thing until it snapped.

Xi Lua's screams were quite entertaining to listen to.

He quickly released the broken arm, mounted Xi Lua then used a very classic 2 hand choke. With 2 arms broken, Xi Lua could do nothing to defend himself.

"STOP! That's enough!"-Referee-

At the referee's words, Vacio immediately released his grip.

"The winner of this match is X."-Referee-

With a solemn voice, Referee announced the winner of the match in disbelief.

The crowd shared his sentiments.

The very idea of Bastion City's number 1 genius to lose to a nobody was shocking enough. If you add the fact that he lost to an opponent who didn't throw a single punch, then that was just too ridiculous!

And like the badass that he was, Vacio calmly walked away without as much as a single glance at his opponent.

-:-

On the VIP stands

Martial Arts Tournament often attracts the big sects because of the opportunity to show off their disciples skill and to assess the combat strength of their rival factions.

Western Mountain Martial Arts Arena was currently the host of the 3 most powerful sects in Bastion City.

The Heavenly Palm Sect, the Magisterium and the God Blade Alliance.

The smaller sects didn't participate because they knew their disciples wouldn't last a minute against any of the disciples of the 3 major sects. It was quite humiliating to be food for someone else.

Naturally, the 3 big sects knew of this. That's why they weren't particularly surprised when there were barely any participants in this tournament.

Now imagine what happened when the predators discovered that they were prey for someone else?

The current of the God Blade Alliance leader, Reverend Kong, was the first one to approach Lao Wing.

Reverend Kong was an ancient looking old man. He looked like he could croak at any moment.

However, no one doubts that he was one of the best swordsmen in the city.

"I'm impressed Mr. Lao Wing. To think that you were able to develop a youth with such caliber. I applaud your teaching method!"- Reverend Kong-

A slick looking 40 year old man followed suite and approached Lao Wing. This was Magister Ba, one of the 3 leaders of the Magisterium.

"Indeed. It's quite refreshing to watch those cocky bastards from the Heavenly Palm Sect to have their asses handed to them. In the most humiliating of all manners to say the least! I love it!"-Magister Ba-

The handsome patriarch of the Heavenly Palm Sect, Lord Shu, simply grit his teeth in anger. As much as he wanted to refute the criticisms aimed at his sect, it was truly humiliating to lose to someone who was clearly toying with them.

Lao Wing didn't particularly like the 3 sects. From his point of view, majority of Bastion City's internal strife were caused or were related to the 3 big sects.

With this in mind, he simply answered with a shrug.

Normally, this response would piss off the arrogant sect leaders and nobles, but all of them tolerated Lao Wing.

Why?

Lao Wing wasn't only a highly sought after Adamantine Adventurer, he was also regarded as the strongest individual in Bastion City. Every leader of all the sects in the city has, in one form or another, experienced Lao Wing's might.

As much as possible, they wanted to rope him into their sect…. or at the very least, not have an antagonistic relationship with him.

"If I may so bold to ask, who is this X lad of yours? Where did you find such a gem?"-Magister Ba-

"You know I cant answer that question"-Lao Wing-

"I see… then can you at least give us an overview on how you trained him? Im quite interested in his physique"-Reverend Kong-

"Does your sects tell everyone how you train your most prized disciples?"-Lao Wing-

"N-no… You have a point there. Hahaha"-Reverend Kong-

Naturally, the 2 were pissed off on how unfriendly Lao Wing was to them, but they could only swallow their displeasure.

On the other hand, Lao Wing was more terrified of Vacio than angering the 3 big sects.

The Heavenly Palm Sect was known for attacks that damaged both external and internal. The number of attacks that Vacio received was enough to turn a normal martial arts practitioner into a vegetable.

Lao Wing knew how strong Vacio's armor and weapons were. He did watch how they were made. If his gut feelings were correct, if he and Vacio fought with the intention of killing each other, the result would either be mutual destruction or Lao Wing would lose outright.

And this was when Vacio was only 13 years old!

Imagine how strong Vacio would become in a few years.

The thought made Lao Wing sundered in fear.

-:-

After a couple of matches later, Vacio's second bout started.

This time, it was against Mao Lu, the Magisterium's prized student. He was about the same age as Xi Lua but had a gentle spineless look about him. He was like your typical worthless Japanese harem protagonist.

There was no haughty introduction speech. Mao Lu was clearly cautious of Vacio after he terminated the strongest competitor in this tournament.

The 2 of them stood at their starting position about 10 meters away from each other.

The referee then said…

"Both sides are read…. Battle START!"-referee-

" **Fireball!** "-Mao Lu-

" **Divine Shield!** "-Vacio-

A large explosion erupted at the middle of the ring as Mao Lu started off with his strongest spell, the 3rd tier Fireball.

Unlike the Heavenly Palm Sect and the God Blade Alliance, the Magisterium specialized in the Southern Martial Arts. In short, they were mages.

What they lack in endurance, they more than made up for in massive firepower.

Mao Lu was confident that even Xi Lua would instantly be unable to fight after eating his Fireball face first.

Unfortunately for him, his enemy was Vacio.

Vacio wasn't sure how strong the magic in this world was, but he wasn't taking any chances. He even activated his trump card the Divine Shield just to be sure.

Before the dust could settle, Vacio made a reckless charge towards Mao Lu.

By the time Mao Lu could see through the smoke, there was barely 5 meters between.

" **Electrosphere!** "-Mao Lu-

He fired of a spell as he retreated.

Large amounts of lightning rocked the stage, but it did nothing to slow Vacio down. If anything, it only spurred Vacio to move faster.

Before Mao Lu could fire off another spell, Vacio grabbed him by the neck and violently choke slammed him to the ground.

Without releasing his grip on Mao Lu's neck, Vacio rolled with Mao Lu on the ground until he was able to get him into one of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu's most basic chokes, a Rear Naked Choke or more commonly known as the Sleeper Hold.

Vacio locked his legs around his victim and proceeded to apply enough strength to his arms to choke Mao Lu into submission.

"That's enough! This battle is over! The Winner is X!"

Once again, the referee saw what was happening and immediately stopped the fight.

The crowd was once again stupefied.

Vacio once again defeated his enemy without throwing a single punch. The more shocking thing was that he took 2 3rd tier spells right in the face and was still able to win via submission.

To top it all off, this battle ended much faster than the first one!

How was that even possible!?

Following the trend he started earlier, Vacio calmly walked away from his opponent without looking back.

Badass much?

-:-

On the VIP stands

Normally, Lord Shu would have thrown some jabs at Magister Ba for the pathetic display of his disciple.

However, the event that just transpired in front of them was just too ridiculous for any jokes to be thrown around.

Mao Lu was hailed as the most outstanding genius of the Magisterium since it's the original founder.

Someone who could wield 3rd tier magic at the tender age of 18 was just monstrous!

However, what was more amazing was that someone receiving 2 of the most powerful spells and shrugged it off like it was nothing!

Nearly everyone in the VIP stands were both amazed and terrified at Vacio's display. If he was this good during his youth, how powerful would he be in a few years?

At this point, pretty much every noble and sect were hatching plans to rope Vacio in to their side.

On the other hand, Lao Wing was having the same dilemma for a different reason.

As to roping Vacio to his side, this was already a done deal when Vacio chose Shen Yun. Lao Wing didn't have any desires for wealth, riches and power, but he did want a better future for Shen Yun.

This was now possible with the help of Vacio.

Anything else outside of that was secondary.

The main concern Lao Wing had with Vacio was the deep seated hatred he had for Bastion City. And Lao Wing shared this sentiment

Bastion City has done nothing good for Vacio, Shen Yun and all of the foreigners that lived here. Bullying and unpunished murder against foreigners and 'unwanted individuals' were common not only in Bastion City but in the Dragon Empire as a whole.

Lao Wing didn't mind it much in the past. However, he realized how horrible the situation was when he started guarding Shen Yun.

While Lao Wing could do nothing but grit his teeth against this injustice, he had a gut feeling that Vacio had the potential to make this world pay for all it has done to him.

This was why he was a bit afraid.

Should he remain with the status quo or follow this budding monster down the path of destruction?

-:-

The matches outside Vacio's bouts were fairly tame. In most cases, the enemy was crumb stomped by the more superior fighter.

While they lasted slightly longer than Vacio vs Mao Lu, they were still fairly short in general.

After all the matches, there was a 30 minute break before the final round.

Vacio made sure to avoid the waiting room that was assigned to him just in case someone tried to approach him. Dealing with briberies and assassinations were a pain in the ass.

All he really needed to do was to store his gaudy equipment and wear his regular clothes. At the same time, he simply sat at the spectator's stands and meld with the crowd.

True enough, there were unwanted visitors that tried to make contact with Vacio. Some were bearing gifts, some with threats and others simply wanted to make some sort of connection with him. All of them came at the behest of someone in the VIP stands and all of them failed to locate Vacio.

By the time the match was about to start, Vacio simply slipped out of the spectator's area, donned his battle attire and went back to the ring.

This time, the enemy from the God Blade Alliance was a girl. She sported your stereotypical main heroine design. Long black hime cut hair, white skin and a perfectly balanced body. She gave off a militaristic kuudere vibe around her.

Surprisingly, she was much younger than the previous 2. She was around 15 years old and was also level 15.

While Xi Lua was considered as the strongest of Bastion City's young generation, the kuudere girl was expected to leave him in the dust any time soon.

This girl was Qiao Yu, the God Blade Alliance's strongest disciple and considered by many as the one that held the greatest growth potential in Bastion City.

The match began but Qiao Yu kept her sword in the sheath and didn't move.

"Mr. X. I humbly ask that you draw your weapon and fight me with all of your strength."-Qiao Yu-

It seemed that Qiao Yu was one of those honor junkies. She oozed with the righteous hero of justice persona.

Naturally, Vacio didn't comply with her request. He kept his fighting stance up and carefuly inched towards Qiao Yu.

"I see…. You don't recognize me as someone worthy of your mace, correct? …. Then I shall force you to accept me!"-Qiao Yu-

Qiao Yu drew her sword. It was your typical Chinese straight sword but was made of silver.

She launched herself at Vacio at speeds so fast that he was actually caught off guard.

Flatfooted as he may be, Vacio was able to block the sword strike with his armguard. He quickly tried to grab Qiao Yu but he grasped nothing but air.

Qiao Yu was able to make a bit of distance between the two of them, then charged right back in.

Thanks to thousands of hours playing Yggdrasil, Vacio kinetic vision was used to the fast paced combat of high level PVP. Keeping track of Qiao Yu and blocking her attacks were easy as pie.

To add to this, his armor was top notch on top of his defense oriented stats.

Qiao Yu was going to have a very very hard time taking him down.

Sadly, it seemed that his agility stat was sorely lacking to catch up with Qiao Yu.

Vacio's build was a 'Versi-Tank'. This was a term he made up himself to reflect how his character worked.

He was a nigh impenetrable fortress with his Blackguard's 'Dark Blessing' passive, high defense armor and defense oriented stat distribution.

Sadly, he was fairly weak against people who could move quickly.

However, he didn't call himself a VERSI-tank for nothing. And now that he has taken up the Trickster class, he could finally show how annoying it was to face down an impenetrable fortress that had too many gimmicks.

Qiao Yu repeated her hit and run tactic for a few more seconds.

Just when she was able to get behind Vacio, he activated one of the Trickster's basic yet very annoying skills.

" **Breath Skill: Tear Gas**!"-Vacio-

Vacio mouth spewed massive amounts of white gas that instantly covered 5 meters around him.

Tear Gas was one of many Breath Attacks that the Trickster had in its arsenal. Others were Fire Breath, Poison Breath, Frost Breath, Combustion Gas Breath, etc.

Tear Gas was exactly as its name implied.

Qiao Yu entered the white smoke with the belief that it was nothing more than a smoke bomb. What she didn't expect was that her eyes and throat burned from the tear gas.

Qiao Yu catapulted herself out of the white gas. She coughed violently and her eyes could barely see through the tears that were pouring out of it.

The skill Tear Gas didn't do any damage, but it did greatly reduce the enemy's accuracy and movement speed for a few seconds.

This was more than enough time for Vacio to close the distance and spine buster Qiao Yu into the solid arena floor.

From here on out, it was business as usual.

Thanks to some mystical martial arts bullshit, Qiao Yu quickly recovered from the tear gas and immediately fought back. She stabbed her sword at Vacio.

The strike shattered a part of his hannya mask, barely missing his right eye by millimeters.

However, this attack placed her hand exactly where Vacio could easily grab it and lock her in an armbar. This was exactly what happened the very next moment.

"AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!"-Qiao Yu-

Pain shot up Qiao Yu's arm as Vacio put all of his strength into the armbar.

It seemed that Qiao Yu was built as a speed demon, because barely 10 seconds later…. SNAP.

Qiao Yu forced down the scream of pain that welled up inside her. This wasn't the first time she experienced pain and this wont be her last.

Qiao Yu struggled against Vacio in order to get herself free. However, it was quickly apparent that she had no experience in ground combat.

While she was able to slip free the very second Vacio let go of her hand, she was quickly caught in another submission.

Vacio wrapped himself at Qiao Yu's left leg and executed a Heel Lock. He applied all of the force he could muster, and a few seconds later, Qiao Yu's foot was twisted in a very disgusting manner.

From there, Vacio mounted Qiao Yu and proceeded with the classic 2 hand choke.

It didn't take long for the Referee to interfere.

"That's enough! The winner of this match is X!"-Referee0

Vacio quickly released Qiao Yu and walked away in a badass manner.

-:-

Qiao Yu lied unmoving at the center of the ring.

She was conscious and in pain, but those were secondary to what she felt… intense fear.

As Vacio choked the life out of her, the beastial golden eyes that poked out of the small crack in the hannya mask gave Qiao Yu the impression that he had every intention of killing her.

Qiao Yu was the princess and flower of the God Blade Alliance. She had beauty and sword skills that many desired and envied. Everyone looked at her with eyes of love, lust and envy.

However, the look Vacio gave her was that of emptiness. It was as if he was merely dissecting a frog just for the fun of it.

There was no killing intent.

He simply did not regard her as someone worthy of his recognition.

Qiao Yu felt that her death wouldn't even leave an impression in Vacio's mind.

That realization made Qiao Yu's body shake uncontrollably.

She always thought of herself was a brave individual that would stare death straight in the eyes and laugh…. Oh how wrong she was.

Against true power, she was nothing. Against true skill, she was but a spec. Against a true killer, she was an ant.

However, this was Qiao Yu's one sided misunderstanding.

Vacio never looked at Qiao Yu that way. He simply looked really really scary with his hannya mask and creepy get up.

Sadly, this misunderstanding would be the catalyst to a future event that would give Vacio no shortage of headaches.

-:-

Evening the same day

Western Mountain's Grand Reception Hall

The awarding ceremony for the winner of the martial arts tournament was held in lavish fashion in the Western Mountain's most fashionable venue.

Just to be clear, martial arts tournament almost never receive such a grandiose after-party. It was due to the participation of the 3 Big Sects that the Wester Mountain noble families forked the money for this particular event.

Most of the nobles assumed that one of the 3 Big Sect's disciple would win the tournament, thus made the extra effort to make the event an impressive sight to behold.

It was your typical ass kissing event. Nothing more, nothing less.

Since things didn't go according to plan and the preparations were already set, they had no choice but to go through with the event.

Following the plan they have set many days before, Vacio and Shen Yun spent the hours prior to the event in the secret hide out while Lao Wing wandered around the city alone.

As Lao Wing expected, he was followed by the nobility's lackeys in order to get info on Vacio's identity.

Some kept their distance and followed in the shadows. Others were more direct and went up to Lao Wing to ask for info. Others still offered large amounts of gold or a seat in a high ranking position in order to tempt Lao Wing.

Naturally, Lao Wing declined all of them.

Some were a bit rude and threatened Lao Wing. They became a reminder why Lao Wing held the rank of Adamantine. The corpses were left in a very public place in a condition that made it very hard to determine the cause of death.

When the time for the event came, Lao Wing went with Shen Yun while Vacio plotted his dynamic entry.

Should he go in for a flashy approach filled with explosions? Or should he go for a subtle entrance?

What way was the coolest? Which had more impact? How did he want his X character to be presented as?

After a few minutes of deliberation, he decided in a low key but extremely badass approach.

First he went to a dark alley, changed his X clothing set and walked towards the Reception Hall in a very public manner.

A lot of people watched the tournament, so there was quite a bit of a racket as he made his way to his destination.

Naturally, he ignored everyone that approached him. It was more badass that way.

Eventually he entered the lavish Reception Hall. He made a quick scan until he found Lao Wing and Shen Yun standing in one corner. He made a beeline to join them.

However, Vacio clearly had no idea how the intricacies of nobility worked.

As soon as he reached midway towards his destination a fair number of people surrounded him.

"Ah you must be the protégé of Lao Wing. X, wasn't it? My name is-"

Though the words used were slightly different, the sentence above was repeated multiple times as he walked towards Lao Wing and Shen Yun.

Naturally, he ignored them because of 2 main reasons.

First, it was more badass that way.

Second, they oozed with ulterior motives.

He wasn't sure if they viewed their acting as superb, however Vacio could see right through them. He has never dealt with nobility or any of the fancy pants in the previous world, so he couldnt understand why he could differentiate between which one was an unwitting pawn from the real scumbags.

Was it because of his mental age? Or was it because he was a Bard?

Now that he thought about it, there was a big possibility that it was because he was Bard.

Bards had access to massive amounts of skills. While most of them are useless in combat, these skills really shine in the Role Playing aspect of Yggdrasil.

Vacio wasn't sure which of the multitudes of skills were working, but he was thankful for it. This made him certain that only Lao Wing and Shen Yun were trustworthy.

He was mentally exhausted by the time he reached his allies

"*sigh*…. A lot of two faced bastards in this crowd"-Vacio-

Thanks to the Bard Skill 'Change Voice', Vacio's 13 year old voice was nowhere to be heard. In its place was the same distorted voice used by Ben Affleck in the classic 2016 Batman V Superman movie.

Vacio happened to be a big Batman fan, so he made sure that his distorted voice matched Affleck's Batman.

FYI: Batman V Superman was a subpar movie, but Batman was AWESOME!

PS: MARTHA!

"You're complaining with only this much? I have to deal with this crap on a weekly basis!"-Lao Wing-

Shen Yun simply nodded in agreement. While she has spent most of her life in isolation, she was more acquainted with the darkest side of nobility. It was the main reason why she exiled herself in the first place.

"Nobles in general are disgusting. But then again, every soul in this world is inherently evil to begin with. Nobles and scum just have a harder time trying to suppress it"-?-

"I agree… but who the hell are you?"-Vacio-

Before the 3 could even notice, there was a girl standing next to them. One look at her and it was easy to draw the conclusion that she didn't belong with the Bastion City nobility.

Her age was the same as Vacio and Shen Yun. She had pointy ears, deep brown skin and long violet hair that were tied into twintails. Her attire was that of an Arabian belly dancer though none of the jet black cloth was see through. The veil that covered the lower part of her face added a bit of mystery to her overall charm

She had red letter-like tattoos that were etched all over her body. It didnt degrade her look at all.

With her budding beauty and exotic charm, Vacio was pretty sure that she'd be an instant hit with the lolicon crowd.

Initially, Vacio thought she was a Dark Elf, but the presence of 9 small horns on top of her skull threw him off. The horns were positioned in a manner that made it look like a crown.

"I apologize. My name is Malika. A pleasure to meet you Vacio, Lao Wing and Shen Yun"-Malika-

Malika's mature manner of speaking gave her an aura of seniority. It was as if her Lolita body housed a much older soul.

But more importantly, Vacio was shocked.

How the hell did she know his name?

During his entire time in Bastion City, Vacio remained unknown to the general populace. He made great efforts to keep it that way. He kept contact with everyone else at the barest minimum in order to gather up strength in peace.

If Malika found out about him despite his efforts, then she must be much more complicated than a delicious looking brown skinned Lolita.

Shen Yun was equally confused as Vacio.

However, Lao Wing was not only shocked, but did his very best to keep his body from shaking in fear.

Thanks to Vacio's multitude of passive Bardic social skills, he was able to catch Lao Wing's minute behavior.

It looked like this delicious dark skinned loli was not someone to be trifled with. "What do you want?"-Vacio-

He decided to go for a direct approach. Suddenly bending his back just because dark skinned loli may be a monster was a sign of weakness. Vacio wasn't sure how the subtle art of nitpicking worked in this world, so he might as well be blunt as a mace.

Vacio's bluntness made Lao Wing's face lose all the color it had.

"To the point huh. Quite refreshing compared to how these insufferable Dragon Empire hicks constant dancing around the subject."-Malika-

"Im a foreigner. Maybe that's why. Anyways my question still stands though. What do you want?"-Vacio-

"For now, nothing. This is nothing more than an introduction. I do think that my organization will be working with you in the future."-Malika-

Malika made subtle emphasis on the words 'my organization'. Foreshadowing much?

From the looks of things, Vacio was about to be dragged into some sort of storyline that would decide the fate of the entire world as he knew it.

Okay, the previous statement was obviously made up, but that's how things work in these types of stories, right?

"Anyway, I assume you have questions. The amount of answers I can provide you are extremely limited at the moment, but I will answer what I can. Ask away."-Malika-

Vacio wanted to punch Malika in the face.

Her statement meant "Ask anything you want. But that doesn't mean I'll answer any of it. Teehee~"

Why give the option of asking questions when she obviously won't answer the questions Vacio wanted to ask the most?!

Vacio thought of his options and arrived at the most logical conclusion.

He gently grabbed Malika's hand and said…

"Would you like to become my woman?"-Vacio-

.

.

.

The silence that followed was painful.

" _This joke was much funnier in my head…. GOD! JUST KILL ME!"_ –Vacio-

Malika's stone cold poker face stared holes into Vacio's head.

Shen Yun's eyes were particularly scary.

"Was that suppose to be a joke?"-Malika-

If it wasn't for the Bard's 'Poker Face' social ability, Vacio would be at the verge of tears right about now.

Vacio swallowed his humiliation and powered through.

"I could say the same thing. Allow me to ask questions when you obviously had no intention of answering the important ones? I may be a kid but I'm no fool"-Vacio-

Another silent stare down ensued.

After a few seconds, Malika cracked a small smile.

"Heh. And here I thought you were a snot nosed brat. Looks like I was wrong. You're right. I cant answer the important ones until I'm sure that you can be trusted."-Malika

"Hmph. Thought so."-Vacio-

"Well, I'll give you this one though. Becoming your woman is not out of the table. You just have to seduce me. Till we meet again."-Malika-

Malika turned around and walked away.

Lao Wing quickly bonked Vacio in the head.

"Have you no sense of decency?! Shen Yun is right beside you for gods sake!"-Lao Wing-

Before Vacio could defend himself, Shen Yun answered.

"No worries uncle. Given how things are progressing, I long accepted the possibility that Vacio would seduce multitudes of women"-Shen Yun-

Though Shen Yun said that in her usual soft spoken voice, Vacio couldn't help but feel a chill crawl down his spines.

Out of fear of the unknown, Vacio quickly changed the subject.

"A-Anyways, who was that Malika person? Based on your reactions earlier, she's someone scary"-Vacio-

"My info is mostly second hand so take it with a grain of salt. As far as I know, Malika is a foreigner that was able to set up a Sect in Bastion City. That alone is an amazing feat given how racist the Dragon Empire is to foreigners. No one knows the name of her sect. All I know is that it has very few members yet not even the big sects want to mess with her."-Lao Wing-

"Hmm…. For someone who doesn't like sects, you're surprisingly knowledgeable about Malika. Do I sense a hint of romance?"-Vacio-

A small blush appeared on Lao Wing's old mug.

" _Oh…. My….. God…. MISTER POLICEMAN! COME QUICK! THERE'S A PEDOBEAR HERE!"_ -Vacio-

"Hmph. Unlike an unseasoned brat like you, I have nothing to hide. I admit I was infatuated with her in the past. However, I was only a stupid 15 years old at the time. Call it youthful passion if you will"-Lao Wing-

Vacio couldn't hide his shock.

"Hold on…. 15 years old?! Does that mean…"-Vacio-

"Yes….. Malika looked like that 100 years ago. I have no idea what her actual age is, but she is without a doubt someone with great amounts of wisdom and experience. Catching her eye may not exactly be a good thing."-Lao Wing-

"Great…. Such freaking great…."-Vacio-

While the 3 lamented on what Malika's intentions were, the party proceeded in earnest.

There were speeches…. Oh god, were there speeches.

Vacio wondered if the speakers simply loved listening to their own voice because the audience sure hell didn't. The audience did pretend to listen, but it was obvious they don't give a rats ass about the speakers or the content of their speech.

Eventually, the moment Vacio was patiently waiting for finally arrived.

"And now we move to the awarding ceremony for the victor of the annual Western Mountain Martial Arts Tournament. Mister X, kindly step forward"-Some important dude-

The audience parted ways and gave Vacio a direct path to the elevated platform. While most of them were modestly clapping, he could feel analytic gazes upon him. The entire room oozed with scheming and hidden agendas.

At the very least, this made it easy for Vacio to know who his enemies were….. pretty much everyone in this room.

When he reached the platform, there was a table with nearly a hundred scrolls neatly lined up on it.

Before he could approach the speaker presented him with a small pouch. It contained 3 root crop looking thing and 10 marble looking things.

"In honor of your splendid performance, aside from the promised cultivation manual, we award you 3 Blood Ginsens and 10 low grade Rainbow Pills. These are perfect for people who are just starting on the path of cultivation. Take it as a gift from Heavenly Palm Sect"-Some important Dude-

" _Oh look, a blatant attempt of bribery! Talk about disgusting"_ -Vacio-

It was obvious that after beating the big 3's disciples, the big sects wanted nothing more than to get Vacio into their fold. Taking the pouch would mean that Vacio would owe the Heavenly Palm Sect one.

If there was something Vacio hated, it was being used.

With that in mind, Vacio ignored the cultivation materials and went straight for the manuals.

The audience was shocked at this. To think someone would blatantly reject the 'good will' of one of the 3 big sects. He was either quite brave or quite stupid…. Or maybe both.

Lord Shu of the Heavenly Palm Sect was clearly not pleased. Though his face remained stoic, his reputation took a fair bit of damage from that one. As much as he wanted to rip Vacio apart for the humiliation he caused, Lord Shu understood that doing so would be very petty and would further damage the Heavenly Palm Sect's reputation. Thus he controlled himself.

However, the obvious bribe was not the main way to pull Vacio in. It was actually, the cultivation manuals.

All of the cultivation manuals on the table were introduction chapters (base class). If Vacio wanted to pursue a higher realm of skill (advanced class), he would have to approach one of the sects to gain access to their rare cultivation manuals.

Thanks to the Bard's abnormally high Lore scores, all Vacio needed to do was look at the scrolls to identify them.

One look and he could immediately tell that all of them were unusable to him. Quite annoying really.

While there were familiar classes like swordsman, thief, mage and others, there were also classes that didn't exist in Yggdrasil. Such class was the Revolving Crane Fighter.

The name was weird and it gave no indication to what could possibly its skills.

There were quite a bit of these unknown classes in the pile and Vacio couldn't use any of them.

Quite a shame. He was particularly interested in the Drunken Staff Master class. He could understand what a Drunken Fist meant, but how the hell was a drunk suppose to wield a staff properly?

" _Meh. Whatever. Better chose something compatible with Shen Yun"_ -Vacio-

He slowly sorted through the scrolls until, after much deliberation, chose the class that he thought would fit Shen Yun best. He took a ragged looking scroll that had small blood splatter marks here and there.

He then presented to the random important guy his choice.

"A-Are you certain this is what you want? There are other more illustrious choices in there. I suggest you take another look to be certain. Not to mention, you can only allowed to read it here for 30 minutes before you return it!"-Some Important Dude-

It looked like they were trying to shoehorn Vacio into a choice. He wasn't sure what their plan was, but choosing this scroll was obviously not part of the script.

"There is nothing here that interests me."-Vacio-

"Y-yes I understand. But this is a once in a life time opportunity! To choose su-"-Some Important Dude-

Vacio sidestepped the annoying guy and made his way back to Shen Yun and Lao Wing.

Confusion spread throughout the crowd. The cultivation he chose would lead him to join one of the sects that possessed the advanced version of that cultivation.

Based on the response of speaker, the one Vacio chose was not the answer they wanted.

The audience looked to the speaker for answers

"The cultivation he chose was the first chapter of the 'Unbound Blood God Philosophy' ! "-Some Important Dude-

True enough, not only the 3 sects but also the other smaller sects that hoped to rope Vacio in flinched at the name.

The Unbound Blood God Philosophy was one of the most chaotic martial arts in Bastion City.

It has no particular weapon focus, no physique required, no particular rules to follow. Hell, even the practitioners of this cultivation shared very little similarities in terms of techniques used, weapons preferred or physique.

The only 'Philosophy' shared between the practitioners was 'Nothing is off limits. Everything is permitted'

The Unbound Blood God Philosophy was one of many sinister cultivation techniques of the Northern Martial Arts.

Seeing how majority of the Sects of Bastion City practiced the Western, Eastern and Southern Arts (in order of popularity), the idea of a powerful youth practicing the Northern arts was both damaging to the pride and worrying at the same time.

However, the surprise didn't end there.

As Vacio approached his group, he handed the scroll to Shen Yun

"You have 30 minutes to learn as many techniques as possible. Make it quick"-Vacio-

"Yes!"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun quickly opened the scroll and began committing it to memory. She was a smart girl, thus her comprehension was very sharp. She'll probably finish the entire scroll in less than 30 minutes.

"Hey…. Are you sure that this is the only cultivation method for her?"-Lao Wing-

Lao Wing's uncertainty was understandable. The Unbound Blood God Philosophy has been known to produce martial arts with very…. Violent to say the least.

"Unfortunately, yes. That's the only one that can make full use of Shen Yun's abilities"-Vacio-

"I see… I hope your right"-Lao Wing-

" _GOD DAMN IT! I HOPE SO TOO!"_ -Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio had no idea if his choice was correct. The info he got from Shen Yun's status screen was simply not enough to make a decent guess as to what her forte was.

Since Vacio wasn't sure, he decided to choose a class for Shen Yun that synergized with his own.

Oh by the way, Unbound Blood God Philosophy was an unnecessarily long name for Yggdrasil's 'Barbarian' class.

The Barbarian was the base class that would eventually lead to the all too famous advance class, the Berserker.

Yes… he was molding the kind, gentle and serene Shen Yun into an extremely violent attack dog.

He did feel a bit guilty, but as a tank, his lack of offensive power was his greatest weakness.

There was no doubt that he'll eventually face opponents that needed to be eliminated as fast as possible. The only way he could up his DPS without sacrificing his build, he'll have to party up with someone else.

And Shen Yun was his best bet.

While Vacio doubted his actions, an angry person approached him.

"Even if it's just an introductory chapter, giving away such valuable cultivation method to someone else…. Are you trying to insult us martial artists?!"-Qiao Yu-

Vacio could already feel the avalanche of problems that this particular situation was about to cause him.

While he could try to appease the raving Qiao Yu by telling her what she wanted to hear…. He just doesn't want to ^.^

He turned to face Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu couldn't help but take a half step back due to Vacio's overwhelming presence. It wasn't just her, pretty much everyone in the general direction Vacio could feel the pressure.

FYI: The pressure was all in their heads

"I entered the tournament specifically to get her a cultivation method. I don't believe that it was against any established rules to win the tournament for the sake of another"-Vacio-

Qiao Yu was so pissed off that she pretty much abandoned her 'beautiful flower' façade. She was pretty much shouting on the top of her lungs.

Truth be told, pretty much every martial artist shared her sentiments.

"Do you not understand your actions?! By your words, you make it seem that the tournament was nothing more than an unnecessary event for you to get a cultivation method! By giving it away, you clearly don't see martial arts as valuable!"-Qiao Yu-

Clearly, Vacio's actions damaged her pride as a martial artist.

Vacio actually found it amusing to piss Qiao Yu off.

"You are correct in all of your statements. The tournament and the cultivations mean nothing to me. There is **nothing** this city has that interests me."-Vacio-

Qiao Yu's anger exceeded her limits.

She drew her sword to chop Vacio in half.

Though silently, the audience supported Qiao Yu. Vacio's words and actions was a slap to the pride of martial artists.

However, the scene that transpired shocked everyone.

Before Qiao Yu's sword connected with Vacio's head, she suddenly stopped in mid air. As if being choked to death, Qiao Yu tried released her sword and tried to pry the invisible hand that was gripping her neck.

Just below Qiao Yu, Vacio hand was extended and was making an action of choking an invisible neck.

This was the Tier 4 magic 'Force Choke'. Due to the extreme rarity of people in this world that could use magic above Tier 3, people just assumed that Vacio was using some form of martial arts.

"I assume you understand that I have the right to defend myself, right?"-Vacio-

Vacio drew his skull mace in a menacing manner.

As if in response to its wielder's will, the skull mace began leaking black flames. This effect was actually the additional unholy damage that Vacio enchanted to the mace.

The combination of its skull motif and the dark energy made it look quite scary.

Vacio raised his mace.

Qiao Yu's involuntarily began to shake in fear despite being choked to death.

Vacio had no intention of actually killing Qiao Yu, but he had to make her fear him so that she will never approach him again.

Fortunately for Vacio, Lao Wing grabbed his mace arm.

" _Right on que"_ -Vacio-

"That's enough kid. You made your point"-Lao Wing-

Lao Wing had no idea that Vacio was just trying to scare Qiao Yu. He truly did interfere in with the intention of fighting Vacio if need be.

"She might cause problems. I think its better if I take care of her now"-Vacio-

"THAT'S NOT NECCESARY! You have already proven that no one in this room is your match! There is no need to bully the weak!"-Lao Wing-

The people in this room were shocked at Lao Wing's statement.

If 'no one in the room' could match Vacio, doesn't that include Lao Wing as well?!

The audience took Lao Wing's words as a warning. And besides, Vacio's skull mace was clearly a legendary weapon. Isnt that proof enough that he was not simple at all?

Vacio was silent for a moment, then released his Force Choke on Qiao Yu. He also sheathed his skull mace as that he no longer had any harmful intention.

Without as much as a single glance, he turned around and returned to Shen Yun's side.

FYI: Shen Yun was so absorbed at reading the scroll that she didn't even notice what happened.

Qiao Yu was so afraid that her body couldn't stop shaking.

The members of the God Blade Alliance sect quickly carried Qiao Yu off.

Reverend Kong of the God Blade Alliance sect approached Lao Wing

"If your words are true, then you must have trained your protégé quite well."-Reverend Kong-

Reverend Kong was pertaining to Vacio being unmatched.

Much to Reverend Kong's surprise, Lao Wing took his words as an offense.

"Don't be stupid. No one has the power to raise a monster like that!"-Lao Wing-

The banquet continued with a strained atmosphere until Vacio returned the cultivation scroll its owners and left with Shen Yun and Lao Wing.

-:-

2 Days Later

Vacio was playing mahjong with Lao Wing…. and was losing badly.

Vacio has always avoided gambling like a plague. He was quite unlucky and has never won in a game of chance.

In one of the inner caves, there was a massive wooden bath tub filled with boiling green water. The green water was actually the massive elixir bath that Vacio has been preparing for the last few months.

About 9 hours ago, Shen Yun was submerged into the elixir bath with a snorkel in her mouth to keep her alive.

The elixir wasn't actually boiling. The bubbles were nothing more than a chemical reaction when the elixir touched Shen Yun's poisonous skin.

During this time, Shen Yun has continuously cultivated the Unbound Blood God Philosophy in order to reduce the pain of the elixir melting through her skin.

At this point, Vacio and Lao Wing could only wait… and what a painfully long wait it was.

Vacio was fairly confident that this would work but Lao Wing was taking it all on faith.

Yet despite Lao Wing's worry and unfocused demeanor, he was still decimating Vacio in mahjong.

As Vacio was slamming his face into the table at his 12th continuous loss, he noticed the sound of bubbles could no longer be heard

A few seconds later, a 13 year old girl with unrealistic beauty stepped out of the bath tub room.

She had short bleach green hair, deep violet eyes and small physique that befitted her age. She had a towel wrapped around her but it was easy to see her flawless white skin. Despite her young age, the image of her practically naked except for the towel would ignite the lust of even the most devote monk.

Lao Wing was so shocked that his mouth hanged open for quite a long time.

Vacio, on the other hand, wasn't particularly surprised. He has seen women with disturbing levels of beauty during his Yggdrasil days. There were some very talented 3D artists in his guild that molded pixels into something amazing.

Never the less, the girl shyly standing in front of them was beautiful indeed.

Vacio calmly stood up, dragged a full body mirror he recently bought in front of the girl.

Much to the girl's surprise, the one in the mirror was a girl so beautiful that she could only have existed in fairy tales.

The girl looked at Vacio, as if asking if this was all a dream.

"Now will you believe me when I call you the most perfect woman in the world?"-Vacio-

With tears of joy and a smile so beautiful that it could make flowers bloom, the girl answered…

"Yes!"-Shen Yun-

-:-


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Illuminati

-:-

3 weeks later

Shen Clan Mansion

Cultivation has always been about meditation. It was the practice of absorbing the energies of heaven and earth into one's own body in order to improve it.

Normally, this required a calm and serene mind in order to get the full effect from cultivation

Unbound Blood God Philosophy was nothing like that.

Instead of peacefully becoming one with the heavenly energies, the Unbound Blood God Philosophy takes the heavenly energies, beats it into submission and forces it to become the users bitch.

History has repeatedly shown that those who practice any of the many Blood God Arts were psychopathic in nature and where excessively violently when provoked.

With this reputation, everyone in the Shen Clan's main hall couldn't help but feel a very real sense of danger.

The Shen Family's main hall was relatively small compared to the massive mansion it was located in.

It was a rectangular room with 3 fancy chairs on each side of the room. These seats belonged to people with high position within the Shen Clan.

There was one exceedingly fancy seat at the middle of the room that was positioned opposite to the exit. This was where the current head of the Shen Clan was seated.

Those who occupied these seats were the most influential people in the Shen Clan. Given that the Shen Clan was one of the richest families in Bastion City, it could also be said that these people were some of the most influential persons in the city.

Despite this, the 7 men of the Shen Clan, their wives and the guards were very much intimidated by the 13 year old girl standing in the middle of the room.

In her usual mummy form, Shen Yun stood silently and defiantly in front of the heads of her family.

While she was indeed silent, the loud and deep breathing that was commonly associated with those preparing for combat, was a clear indication that Shen Yun was not happy at all.

Shen Yun knew the reason why she was called back. It was obviously something to do with Vacio. They even made sure that Lao Wing was out of town due to a quest.

" _Cowards! Condescending cunts!"_ –Shen Yun-

Ever since Shen Yun started using the Unbound Blood God Philosophy, she found it extremely easy for her repressed feelings to flow. In fact, it was so easy that she had to keep vigilant else something unbecoming escapes her lips.

She was Vacio's 'Perfect Woman'.

Everything from her speech to her movements to the pleasure she can offer to Vacio must be perfect. Her mission to give him his perfect woman was one of Shen Yun's most sought after desire.

Sadly, the Unbound Blood God Philosophy has amplified and unchained ALL of Shen Yun's emotions.

Though it allowed her to use an extremely amplified version of her anger and wrath on the battlefield, it did come with some complications.

For example, Shen Yun lusted for Vacio. And its not the level of puppy love.

It was at the level that she would dream of bashing Vacio in the head, forcefully ripping off his pants and violate him with reckless abaddon

And these dreams often escalate.

Just last night, she dreamt that she mixed a dangerous amount of aphrodisiac into Vacio's food. Once he lost control of his senses, she would pretend to be the meek victim and have him violently rape her.

Truth be told, she actually enjoyed these lust filled dreams. It was one of the many things she liked about the Unbound Blood God Philosophy. Though it was a bit annoying how often she made a mess of her underwear.

However, at the moment, she couldn't help but curse her cultivation technique.

She was angry. Really really REALLY angry!

She was often pissed off whenever she was at the presence of other members of the Shen Clan.

However, her amplified emotions have pushed her 'pissed off' into 'slaughter them all' territory. She had to be careful else she'd violently attack everyone on sight.

Vacio did prepare some counter measures for this.

Shen Yun was actually sporting light metal armor beneath her white gown-like clothing. She would have loved to have her halberd in arms reach, but it was standard procedure to have no weapons when meeting with high ranking officials.

If she was going to go on a rampage, she had a higher chance of survival if she had full armor.

The second and more reliable countermeasure was Vacio himself.

She wasn't sure where he was, but she was certain that Vacio would burst in the moment things looked back for Shen Yun

And so, all she needed to do was to keep herself from flying into a fit of rage.

One of the men sitting on the right side of the wall spoke up

"Shen Yun, I'm glad to see you again. How are you doing?"-?-

This was man was Shen Hai. He was a handsome man 40 year old man that looked 10 years younger than his actual age. He was one of the few people Shen Yun didn't want to rip into pieces.

When her father Shen Li died, the entire Shen Clan wanted her to 'disappear' because the presence of an 'ugly as hell' girl damaged their prestige.

It was Shen Li that set up her 'exile' in the hands of Lao Wing. It was him that gave her a small house to live in and secretly provided her with a small allowance.

To Shen Yun, Shen Li was one of the extremely few people in this room that wasn't on her hit list.

However, despite Shen Li's friendly greeting, Shen Yun remained silent. It wasn't she hated him, it was because she hated the woman standing beside him.

The woman was a beauty with long deep green hair, curvaceous figure and a mask of seductive innocence. This woman was Shen Mei, Shen Yun's biological mother.

Barely 3 months after the death of Shen Yun's father, Shen Mei immediately jumped ship and was able to seduce Shen Li.

Shen Li might be a good person at heart, but the existence of Shen Mei by his side made it impossible for Shen Yun to consider him as nothing more of a puppet for her whore of a mother.

Naturally, Shen Li knew about this. However, he truly did love Shen Mei and was more than happy to marry her even if she didn't exactly loved him back.

That's why he could only sigh in resignation at Shen Yun's cold response.

Shen Mei on the other hand was clearly not pleased. For a split second, her face became extremely ugly before returning into her innocent mask.

At the midst of the tense atmosphere Shen Xu, the head of the Shen Clan, spoke in a dignified manner.

"Shen Yun, do you know why you are called here?"-Shen Xu

Once again, Shen Yun didn't respond.

Normally, no one in this room would take such rudeness without punishment. Sadly, Shen Yun was under the protection of 2 very powerful forces. Bastion City's Strongest Adventurer Lao Wing and the enigma Vacio.

Shen Xu wasn't stupid enough to offend Lao Wing. This goes double for Vacio. He wasn't sure exactly how powerful Vacio was, but if the kid was able to attract the attention of THAT Malika, then antagonizing Vacio could easily lead to horrible things down the road.

Because of these 2, no one in the higher brass of the Shen Clan could do anything to Shen Yun.

Shen Xu cleared his throat and continued

"It seems that you have some sort of relationship with Lao Wing's protégé X. I'm curious as to who is this prestigious youth. Can you tell me about him?"-Shen Xu

Since Shen Yun was already expecting this question, she was able to suppress her rage. She simply turned around and made way to the exit.

As if they were expecting this, a youth at the same age as Shen Yun quickly blocked her path and slapped Shen Yun in the face. The slap was so strong that it actually shattered Shen Yun's mask.

This was one of the many bullying tactics that have been used on Shen Yun. The idea was to make her shrink back by exposing her hideous features to everyone.

"Shen Ho, please control your grandchild! I apologize for this Shen Yun. Kids these days are so irresponsible."-Shen Xu-

Shen Xu's sincere apology couldn't hide his sarcasm. Obviously, this was planned in advance just in case Shen Yun made a certain response. This was to remind her where her place was.

However, the room gasp when they saw Shen Yun's face.

Her mother may be pretty but Shen Yun's beauty was at the disturbing levels. Her skin was pearl white, her features were smooth and well proportioned. It was as if she was hand crafted to look unrealistically beautiful.

And since she was her mother's daughter, Shen Yun's body would definitely grow to be seductive in levels that even her own mother couldn't attain.

The effect of her beauty was most effective to the youth that smashed her mask.

He extended his hand to Shen Yun

"I-I'm so sorry…. Are you alright?"-Brat-

Unfortunately for the brat, he became the outlet of Shen Yun's rage.

Shen Yun grabbed the youth's hand, and at the same time, activate the Barbarian's signature skill: Rage

Rage greatly boosted the user's Physical Attack and Agility at the expense of Physical Defense.

The result was quite impressive.

Shen Yun's grip was so powerful that Brat's hand was crushed almost instantly.

"MY HAND! IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUUUUURRRRTTTTTSSS!"-Brat-

Shen Yun quickly followed through. She turned Brat into a rag doll and slammed him into the ground. She did this again and again and again until she accidentally let go at mid action.

Bart slammed into the ceiling, and then landed painfully into the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Silence filled the room.

Those of the Shen Clan were shocked.

The Brat was 5th rank of the Acolyte realm (level 5). This was the standard strength for most children at the age of 13.

The Shen Clan also knew that Shen Yun has never practiced any form of cultivation prior to 3 weeks ago. Most of the clan members consider her a waste of space and money, thus giving her a valuable cultivation method was out of the question.

But based on how she man handled Brat, it was obvious to anyone's eyes that Shen was much much stronger than Brat.

Zero to a level that exceeds the 5th rank of the Acolyte realm in 3 short weeks?!

This absurd cultivation speed was unheard of!

Imagine their shock if they knew that Shen Yun was already level 9.

As to why her level shot up so quickly, no one knew for sure.

Vacio believed that this was a result of a massive chain quest that gave Shen Yun tons of surplus exp to be consumed by her cultivation. Of course, this was nothing more of a theory since Vacio had absolutely no idea how the leveling system of these 'cultivations' worked.

However, despite Shen Yun's surprising strength, she was in the middle of a group that vastly outstrips her in power and numbers.

She needed to make a hasty retreat.

As much as she wanted to pick up the pieces of her mask and shove it down Brat's throat, she calmly headed towards the exit while covering her face.

She has spent most of her entire life with a mask on her face. It was only recently did she try to get used to living without it. For now, she was fine in private places with Vacio and Lao Wing.

Anywhere else made her feel insecure.

As she stepped out of the hall, the Shen Clan members finally snapped out of it.

"Get beck here you stupid bitch!"-Shen Ho-

Shen Ho drew his sword and rushed towards Shen Yun

"Shen Ho, control yourself!"-Shen Xu

Unfortunately for Shen Xu, Shen Ho didn't hear his words.

Shen Xu was quite old and his body was no longer up to par with the younger ones. Shen Xu wouldn't be able to catch up Shen Ho even if he used all of his power.

Shen Yun ran as fast as possible, but even with the temporary agility boost from Rage, her opponent was part of a Clan that specialized in speed. Catching up to her was easy for those at the higher levels of the Shen Clan.

Out of desperation, Shen Yun jumped out of a window.

The Shen Mansion was on top of a fairly steep cliff with a 5 stories drop into a not-so-thick forest. The nearest town, the town where Shen Yun's house of exile was located, was about half a day by horse carriage.

It was going to be near impossible for Shen Yun to escape.

Shen Yun landed with a hard thud, then quickly ran for the predetermined path that Vacio has set.

Unfortunately, both Vacio and Shen Yun made a grave miscalculation at the speed of the Shen Clan warriors.

Before she could take 10 steps from her initial landing point, she followed her instincts and quickly turned around while in boxer guard.

Almost immediately, a powerful blow rattled her arms.

It was Shen Ho executing a martial arts with his straight sword.

Thanks to the high quality of Vacio's armor, Shen Yun didn't lose both hands to Shen Ho's sword slash. However, she did felt that both arms broke from the blow.

However, this didn't slow Shen Yun's attempt to run away, much to Shen Ho's surprise.

Normally, this amount of pain was enough to stagger or even disable an opponent. Shen Ho aimed specifically for this when he attacked.

What Shen Ho didn't know, the Barbarian's Rage skill had the ability to completely cancel out all pain. It didn't mean that she didn't receive any damage though. It only meant that she could still fight as long as the damages she received weren't lethal.

At this point in time, Vacio was already rushing towards Shen Yun. He couldn't help but be frustrated to his miscalculations. He couldnt position himself too near to the Shen Mansion because the forest wasn't thick enough for him to hide in.

He also took Shen Yun and Lao Wing's info at face value without doing any research on his own. Sadly, this was mostly due to the fact that Vacio had no means of performing said research. He didn't have the manpower, resources or connections to effectively gather information.

This incident has made Vacio realize how important it was to have an organized group at his beck and call.

And the cost of this error was him being too far from Shen Yun's position.

As Shen Yun desperately ran for her life while enduring Shen Ho's attacks, her Rage skill ended its duration.

Her body immediately crumbled to the ground as she finally felt how bad her condition was.

Shen Ho has repeatedly tried to disable Shen Yun, but her armor has done well to keep out most of the damage. However, her muscles were badly bruised, some of her bones were broken and she forced her body to run at top speed at such a condition.

"Ho ho ho. Quite an impressive armor you got there dear. To think it took so many hits from my **Flying Dragon Strike** and still look brand new. Quite an impressive armor indeed."-Shen Ho-

Shen Ho calmly walked towards Shen Yun with a condescending smirk on his face.

How could he not be cocky?

Shen Yun was no match for Shen Ho. And just in case of any unexpected events, the other members of the Shen Clan's top brass was quickly catching up to him.

This gave Shen Ho enough time to extract his revenge.

"Hmm… Now what should I do with you? I guess its only proper for me to take your armor as payment for injuring my grandson, right?"-Shen Ho-

Shen Ho could already see the other members of the Shen Clan leadership just beyond the trees. He could also feel the presence of another person at the direction Shen Yun was running to. This person was still far off and would probably arrive too late.

If Shen Ho wanted to steal Shen Yun's armor, he needed to be quick.

As he reached out his hand towards Shen Yun, Shen Ho was hit by a powerful force. The force was so strong that Shen Ho smashed into a tree, causing it to explode into pieces.

Shen Ho tried to stand up, but a large foot smashed him back down.

Stepping on Shen Ho was a Minotaur with jet black fur and was covered in chains.

This was shocking to Shen Ho and all of the Shen Clan present in the scene.

How could such a powerful monster not give off any sort of presence?

Minotaurs were powerful yet clumsy creatures. There was no way to hide such a massive bulk and the unrestrained thirst for blood.

Unless…

All the blood from Shen Ho's face drained as he came to a realization.

"Show yourself Malika!"-Shen Ho-

On que, the loli dark elf with the crown of horns suddenly faded into existence.

"When have you become so impudent little Shen Ho? Calling me out like I was some servant. I guess the years have made you cocky, you stupid brat."-Malika-

Malika lightly stepped Shen Ho in the face.

At this point, the other members of the Shen Clan leadership and a few of their guards arrived on the scene. Despite having numbers on their side, they approached in a cautious and terrified manner.

Minotaurs were monsters that often required a party of mythril ranked adventurers to take down. While the Shen Clan was strong in their own right, they had very little experience as adventurers. Fighting against monsters was a whole different ball game compared to fighting against humans.

And nearly everyone in Bastion who has sat on a position of power knew that Malika and her small sect were a collection of monsters.

With this in mind, Shen Xu approached Malika in a respectful manner.

"Lady Malika, what brings you to our humble abode? Has our Shen Ho offended you in any way? Please state your grievances and I will do my best to make amends"-Shen Xu-

"Hm? Who are you again?"-Malika-

As pissed off as Shen Xu was, he held his anger in and continued to be polite.

"I am Shen Xu, the current head of the Shen Family"-Shen Xu-

Malika paused and thought for a bit, then clasp her hands as if she finally remembered

"Oh right! You were one of those fools who tried to kill us a few decades ago. That was quite fun, but you should find more competent soldiers. The assassins you sent were quite weak. Especially your father. His head popped like a tomato in a very hilarious fashion."-Malika-

Shen Xu made a pained and angry face. However, he once again held it in.

"Yes. That was indeed me. I apologize for that"-Shen Xu-

"No worries. There was no harm done."-Malika-

There was a time when the sects of Bastion City united against the 'evil' that was Malika's sect.

FYI: Evil meant that they were foreigners that did not follow the way of thinking of the Dragon Empire. Or atleast, they didn't adopt a servitudal mindset towards the Dragon Empire.

Bastion City's attack on Malika's sect was based on fabricated evidence and was largely unprovoked. It was a common tactic used by the Dragon Empire on its ever present internal power struggle and against foreigners.

Naturally, this attack was the main reason why every sect in Bastion City was terrified with Malika's sect.

The saying 'Let sleeping dragons lie' was very fitting for that situation.

Fortunately for Bastion City, Malika's sect didn't seek revenge. In fact, that particular incident didn't even register as an 'attack'. To them, it was nothing more than a harmless misunderstanding.

And this terrified Shen Xu

"Anyway, I spotted this poor little girl being attacked by this brute. How can I not want to help such a poor child?"-Malika-

"I assure you, this is not what it seems! Please release Shen Ho so that we can explain!"-Shen Xu-

"Ho… is that so? Then let's ask the eye witness what happened. If you please X. Do tell us what you saw."-Malika-

From the cover of what little trees there were, a 13 year old kid stepped out. Donning black leather armor covered with a bit of heavy metal armor and a pure white Hanya mask, Vacio was very out of place in this Asian fantasy world.

Vacio couldn't help but sigh in resignation. He stealthily arrived on the scene yet was instantly spotted by Malika. He even prepared a heavy bow and some trick arrows in the event that things went south.

It looked like the delicious flat chest dark elf was definitely not someone to be reckoned with.

He activated his Voice Scrambler Skill before he spoke

"I just want Shen Yun. Everything else can be resolved on a later date."-Vacio-

This sentence made the Shen Clan breathe a sigh of relief. From the looks of things, there was a chance to smooth things over.

"Oh? Don't you want to avenge your sex slave?"-Malika-

Shen Yun blushed profusely at these words. Clearly she was very pleased to be considered a sex slave to Vacio.

"Revenge will be mine, but in the most painful way possible with my hands. I will not let anyone steal my satisfaction"-Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio didn't really want to pursue revenge. Going up against an organization with just 3 people wasn't his idea of a good time. It may work for James Bond or Solid Snake, but there was no way it was possible in Vacio's situation.

The only way he could actually do that was to have overwhelming power. Unfortunately, he was still very far from it.

At the moment, his level shot up to level 25 thanks to the completion of a couple of quests. Specifically, these quests were winning the martial arts tournament and curing Shen Yun with the later contributing much of the exp.

However, he doubted that this level was enough to match hundreds of the Shen Clan's finest.

For now, he wanted to make a tactical retreat without sounding like a coward.

"I see. So be it then"-Malika-

The minotaur lifted its hoof, as if it was mentally linked with Malika.

As Shen Ho attempted to rise from the dirt, Malika kicked him in the face. This time, she put a lot of strength into it

"Brat, consider yourself lucky that X let you off in borrowed time. Leave now before I accidentally ignore the little boy's decision"-Malika-

Shen Ho retreated as fast as he could. While he was a prideful man, he knew Malika outclassed him by a long shot.

"We're done here. You may go"-Malika-

"Please wait! I understand that Shen Ho has offended the young X, but please allow me to make amends!"-Shen Xu-

"Don't worry. All of your offenses against Shen Yun will be repaid in full in due time."-Vacio

Vacio princess carried Shen Yun as he walked away.

"Please wait!"-Shen Xu-

Shen Xu tried to pursue Vacio, but before he could even take a few steps forward, the minotaur swiftly appeared in front of him.

Minotaurs were big hulking mass of brute force and were known to lack agility and grace. Yet this minotaur moved like the wind and landed on the ground without shattering it.

Those of the Shen Clan knew that minotaurs were dangerous monsters, but this one might be a cut above the rest.

"That's enough, brats of the Shen Clan. I'll be taking them home now. Don't worry, I'll keep them safe. Anyone who dare approaches will be **destroyed** "-Malika-

The members of the Shen Clan couldn't help but put one step back. Her words was an unveiled threat directed at the Shen Clan, and all of them knew she often make good on her promises.

The only thing they can do was to was silently watch the 3 leave.

-:-

1 Hour Later

"Well I be damned… to think you had a way to get that close to the Shen Mansion without them noticing. I knew you cant underestimate a 100+ year old loli."-Vacio-

"I thank you for your praise…. Though I think you just insulted me there."-Malika-

"Heavens no! I am a man boasts a very VERY large strike zone. Your cunning has captured my respect and your delicious loli beauty has captured my heart! I cant help but feel such immorality in desiring such a young lady! I cant help but sing praises to you!"-Vacio-

"There it is again. What does 'Loli' even mean?"-Malika-

"It means 'young lady' in my native tongue"-Vacio-

"Ho… though technically speaking, we're on the same age in terms of appearance"-Malika-

"But in a few years, I'll look much older while you remain the same, right? Hence the delicious immorality."-Vacio-

"…..You are a peculiar one Vacio. You don't even hide your lustful gaze to me"-Malika-

"I doubt I can hide anything from you though."-Vacio-

"Fu fu fu True."-Malika-

At the moment, Vacio and Malika were calmly walking within a large underground tunnel.

Shen Yun was currently asleep on Vacio's back. While Vacio did use a couple of healing spells and some potions to heal her wounds, she was still burned out from the experience. Vacio was giving her a piggyback ride in order to give her the rest she deserved.

'How did they get in the tunnel?' you ask?

Around 5 minutes from the Shen Clan's mansion was an area with large amounts of tree stumps. This area was deforested for materials to reinforce the Shen mansion.

One of these stumps has a small rune crafted on one of the roots. It was hard to find unless you knew what you were looking for. Activating that rune opened up a hidden entrance into the massive tunnel network the 3 were currently on.

While the 3 were navigating the tunnel complex, Malika explained some details about the tunnel to Vacio.

Apparently, these tunnels stretched throughout Bastion City and then some. There were secret entrances to all areas of interest all over Bastion City. More specifically, they had secret entrances near all sects in the city.

This unhindered and untraceable mobility allowed Malika's sect to have eyes, ears and hands on every important person in the city.

"Wow…. That's quite a set up you got there."-Vacio-

"Indeed. It took a good part of 50 years and only time can tell if the time and effort invested was worth it."-Malika-

"But why put all that effort though? I don't think Bastion City is worth that much."-Vacio-

In response to Vacio's words, Malika made a mature yet impish smile. Quite cute for a dark skinned loli elf.

"Depending on how your meeting goes with our leader, you might just find out."-Malik-

This caught Vacio of guard.

"Eh? You're not the leader?"-Vacio-

"Hardly. I am a secretary of sorts. I'm also something of public relation officer for most part."-Malika-

"Holy crap…. If the secretary is this strong, I cant imagine how powerful the leader is."-Vacio-

"Leaders don't necessarily mean powerful warriors. Leaders are based how they make decisions based on the available information. Our leader is someone like that….. though it's unanimous among the members that our leader is not allowed to meet ANYONE…."-Malika

"…. Er… what is that supposed to mean?"-Vacio

"…. You will understand when you meet him…."-Malika-

A heavy silence covered the following 30 minute walk of their journey.

For Malika, the core of this silence was shame. The main reason she occupied the public relations part of their organization was because the rest of the members were horrible at it. The worst offender being their leader.

At the moment, Malika was dreading that Vacio might get the wrong idea about their organization once he came face to face with their leader.

She already knew that Vacio was hiding a crafty mind beneath an aura of a playful flirt.

She couldn't even begin to predict how the meeting between these 2 eccentrics would go.

On Vacio's side, his thoughts were a bit more serious.

" _What the hell did Malika mean? If this leader wasn't the combat type, does that mean this guy has some mind reading or something? That's troublesome…."_ -Vacio-

Not only that, he was quite terrified of Malika herself.

Summoning demons was the forte of a Warlock, an advanced mage class only available at level 45. And since she can summon a minotaur, one of the higher ranked demons, she was level 50 at the very least

That's double of Vacio's current level!

Most of the people he has met over the last few months were fairly weak. At average, they were at level 30 and below. Because of this he was getting kind of complacent.

Meeting Malika and her minotaur was a rude but necessary awakening for Vacio.

Never assume that you have seen it all, because more often than not, you aint seen nothing yet.

But if a level 50+ was right in front of him, the possibility of people that reached level 100 was not impossibility. This thought terrified Vacio.

The only means he had to accurately gauge an enemy's strength was the non-combat skill In-Depth Analysis. Aside from that, he had to go in blind.

With the threat of people with higher levels than he had hidden among the populace, Vacio had to be extremely careful which people to piss off. He might unwittingly walk into the jaws of a dragon while thinking it was a bunny rabbit.

Now more than ever, he needed access to an information network.

Fortunately, based on how things are going with Malika, Vacio might just get exactly what he wanted.

-:-

It took about another 20 minutes of walking until they reached their destination.

It was a massive cavern with a massive castle hanging upside-down from the ceiling. If that wasn't peculiar enough, the castle's design made it more bizarre.

Quite simply, it was a mess.

Its foundation was that of a typical European castle complete with towers, high walls and steel gates. However, each tower, wall and structure had a different outside appearance every few meters. The ones Vacio could recognize was Egyptian, Viking, Japanese, Arabic, tribal African, Roman and of course gothic European.

While it still did well in the looks department, it was very much a mess.

"Err…. What the hell is that supposed to be?"-Vacio-

Vacio couldnt even begin to describe what he felt at such a bizarre sight

"It is obviously a castle hanging from the top of a massive underground cavern"-Malika-

The way Malika said it, Vacio began to think that maybe castles hanging upside down was a thing in this world.

"While that is impressive and weird at the same time, I'm actually more curious of the architecture. It took so many designs from so many civilizations. I cant even tell if it looks good or bad at this point."-Vacio-

This time, Malika was shocked at Vacio's words.

"You find the architecture surprising? Most people would point out the absurdity of an upside down castle."-Malika-

"I wont stay sane in this crazy world if I keep getting surprised with every little thing"-Vacio-

"Ha ha ha. That is true. Anyway, our leader has this weird obsession for all forms of art. If something catches his eye, he cant help but want to create something similar. You can tell just by looking at the castle that he often takes his passion way too far"- Malika-

"Hmm…. At least our talks will be interesting"-Vacio-

Malika could only sigh at the frustration that she was about to experience.

The entrance to the castle was not straight forward at all.

First they had to wait for a lift to be sent down from the castle.

They would be taken to what normally would be the gates of the castle. Because the castle was upside down, the gate was located at the very top of the castle.

At the gates, there was some sort of jigsaw puzzle that apparently changed every time it was completed. For those who were used to it, such as Malika, it took her 3 minutes to complete it. Everyone else probably would have taken a good day or so.

This was because the jigsaw was an abstract painting their leader made, thus making it impossible for outsiders to know what the hell it was.

After entering the gates was a confusing maze that had no exit. The trick was actually to find a wall that had a secret door behind it.

And after that was the navigation of the fairly big castle until they reached the very bottom middle of the castle.

It took around 10 minutes from the point when they entered the gate to reach the middle of the castle. Though this was mostly because Malika was leading the way. If not, god knows how long Vacio would have to fumble in the dark.

And every step of the way, there was some weird art piece to be seen. Sometimes a painting, other times a statue and there were even poems directly carved into the wall.

One recurring theme in most of the art piece was the leader's near obsessive love for the female body.

Based what Vacio has seen, he could tell that this 'leader' guy was going to be a pain to deal with. Never the less, he had to adjust his way of thinking to cope for the coming conversation..

The heart of the castle was something similar to a throne room.

Right in the middle of a large empty hall was and bald old man in long black robes. He sat on a small bench that was ill befitting the supposed ruler of the castle.

The thing that really stood out was hundreds of floating mirrors that surrounded the old man.

This shocked Vacio because he recognized this particular item.

This was called the 'Farseer's All Seeing Eyes', an extremely rare Divine Class that was infinitely close to a World Class Item. This allowed the user to set up something similar to spy cams and use it to … well… spy on people.

The beauty of this item was it has unlimited charges with no duration limit.

In short, once the user sets up the spy cam, it will be there forever and the user can access to it any time he desired.

Now you're probably wondering why Vacio knew so much about.

It was because the Farseer's All Seeing Eye once belonged to a PC named Baal-Zebul.

Baal-Zebul was the messy bard versi-tank and the most powerful PC Vacio has ever created.

Yggdrasil has a rule that forces the player to drop a random item when they are killed.

Baal-Zebul lost the Farseer's All Seeing Eye in a massive guild war 5 years ago. Back then, two of the largest guild in Yggdrasil clashed in a violent turf war.

In the climactic battle that decided the fate of the 2 guilds, he and his entire guild were forced to pull out all the stops.

The result was they won and their opponent's guild was forced to shut down. But the cost was very high. A lot of PCs died in that conflict, thus tons of loot littered the battlefield.

Baal-Zebul lost the Farseer's All Seeing Eye. Though he did loot tons of other items that more than made up for the loss of his Divine Class item, none of those came close in the pure functionality of the All Seeing Eye.

Now imagine his surprise to find one of his most beloved items in this world.

While Vacio was slack jawed at the presence of the Farseer's All Seeing Eye, the old man realized the three's presence and deactivated the divine artifact.

The old man calmly walked towards Vacio until he was at arms reach.

The old man silently sized up Vacio, then took a look at Shen Yun who was still unconscious. Upon laying eyes on the sleeping beauty, his respectable face made a very perverted grin.

"Hands off the merchandise bub. She's mine."-Vacio-

The room instantly plunged to freezing point.

Malika in particular had a very terrified look on her face.

The old man on the other hand was mildly entertained.

"Normally you would have lost your head by now. But I did have Malika invite you here. That would be a waste of effort in my part. Since that is the case, I'll spare your life depending on your answer to my question."-Old Man-

" _WHY?! Why did I open my big damn mouth! Stupid!"_ -Vacio-

Vacio was still in the process of formulating his possible responses against the old man. The core of his conversation tactic was a 'strong and confident youth'.

Unfortunately, his quickly made comment definitely backfired.

Now he has to outsmart whatever question the old man has for him.

With no other choice, Vacio could only face the old mans question head on.

"Then I ask you this, are you the type of man who prefers young girls with flat chest or do you prefer mature women with bountiful curves?"-Old Man-

.

.

.

.

.

" _Da Faq is this guy talking about"_ –Vacio-

Vacio turned to Malika to alleviate his confusion.

Malika facepalmed in frustration and told Vacio with her eyes to 'just go with it'.

At this point, Vacio finally understood why Malika didn't want anyone to meet her leader. Her leader was nothing more than a pervert!

To think Vacio's survival hinged on whether he was a lolicon or an milf lover…. Unbelievable…

For now, he had to shift gears and answer in a manner befitting a pervert.

"I like them all"-Vacio-

The Old Man was not pleased as expected.

"Are you trying to insult me? That's not the answer to my question"-Old Man-

At this point, Vacio had no idea what to say to the Old Man. Perversion was not his strong point after all. With that in mind, he tried to recall every perverted anime he has ever watched and used whatever lines he could think off.

"For a wise old looking man, you sure a naïve. Little girls or mature women? A body is nothing more than a shell to what makes women attractive!"-Vacio-

"Oh? Do tell."-Old Man-

"Imagine, a woman with a mature beauty yet her brain is that of an innocent child. Because she is naïve about many things, she'll believe whatever you say! Think of the lewd things you can do with such a person!"-Vacio-

The Old Man was shocked. It was as if he has received a divine revelation.

While indeed he was (self proclaimed) legendary artist that desired to immortalize the perfect beauty, this was only limited to the outer appearance. He hasn't put into consideration the emotions his artwork has invoked.

The Old Man couldn't help but pat himself in the back. He once felt that Vacio had insight that far outstripped his own. This only proved that his gut feeling was correct.

"Then I assume you have something to say about young girls?"-Old Man-

"Of course. Imagine a mature little girl. Its both cute and charming, especially when her tough persona falls apart and exposes her cute and lovable nature. The process of breaking that façade is what makes conquering such a girl so much fun!"-Vacio-

"Hmm…. You speak wise words my friend. But then again, a little girl will eventually grow up into a mature woman. Such a shame."-Old Man-

"Oh? Are you on the little girls faction?"-Vacio-

"Why yes. My religion allows a man to be married to a girl regardless of her age. Naturally, my religion only allows sexual penetration when the girl is old enough to take it. Never the less, Little girls are the best!"-Old Man-

" _MR. POLICEMAN! THERE'S A REAL LIVE PEDOBEAR HERE! COME QUICK! PLEASE"_ -Vacio-

As much as Vacio wanted to have the Old Man arrest, he could do nothing but keep his complaints to himself.

Vacio very much realized that this world had a very different set of common sense compared to his own. He has seen a couple of pregnant girls less than 20 years old once or twice in the city.

However, no matter what his feelings were in the matter, Vacio could only go with the flow. There was no point in him preaching the dangers of child pregnancy to a world that has been doing it for hundreds of years.

"I understand your sadness on the whole growing up thing, however, the solution is right in front of us!"-Vacio-

Vacio's gaze went to Malika with the Old Man following suit.

"Hahaha! I know what you mean. An eternal little girl that grows wiser over the years yet remains deliciously flat is indeed perfect. Unfortunately, her strength is so great that not even this old man can make a move on her. Such a waste!"-Old Man-

"You coward! Unlike you, I will not be swayed with the threat of dismemberment! Just you watch, I'll eventually have Malika gasping for breath as I drown her in pleasure!"-Vacio-

"Such bravery! But what of the little girl on your back? Are you discarding her for Malika?"-Old Man-

"Powerful men often enjoys the carnal pleasures of the flesh. Naturally, Shen Yun's flesh is mine and mine alone. I'll have Shen Yun as my wife while I take Malika as my mistress!"-Vacio-

"Admirable! Your potentially suicidal desire to pursue Malika warrants praise, but for you to openly desire multiple women is even more praise worthy!"-Old Man-

"Don't worry Old Man. Just wait and you'll see the rise of my immoral paradise!"-Vacio-

Vacio and the Old Man shook hands with the look of absolute respect for each other. The bond they formed in this day was something that would stand the test of time.

On the sideline, Malika could only facepalm as she watched the idiots talk nonsense.

She wasn't annoyed at the 2 of them having illicit desire for her, she was annoyed of how easy her leader was manipulated by Vacio.

At the Old Man's orders, she was to gauge Vacio's strength. If she believed that he had acceptable amount of might, she was to find a way to recruit him.

However, she greatly misgauged Vacio.

She was sure that Vacio had high skills in crafting simply based on the armor he wore.

She wasn't particularly sure how strong Vacio was, but she was certain that Lao Wing was genuinely afraid of Vacio. If Bastion City's strongest adventurer was terrified of the young man, then it was a good sign that Vacio was not what he seemed.

The one thing that she greatly underestimated was Vacio's cunning.

She thought she understood him after watching him sculpt Shen Yun's mind into a smart but fiercely loyal slave, but watching him completely change his attitude and act like a pervert in order to gain the Old Man's trust was very terrifying to watch.

Vacio's strength might be lacking compared to the others in her group, but his ability to manipulate others was top notch.

And this terrified Malika.

Just to be clear, this was nothing more than a misunderstanding in Malika's part.

Vacio was out of his element when it came to perversion, thus he used whatever he could lines recall from animes he has watched. He was pretty much launching salvoes of bullshit in order to hide his inexperience with the subject.

For some reason, it was working. Thus Vacio just rode with it.

However, it wasn't Malika's misunderstanding that would plague Vacio in the future… it was actually Shen Yun's

Shen Yun has woken up in the middle of Vacio's conversation with the Old Man, so she only heard a part of it. Because of this, she made the worst misunderstanding possible.

" _Vacio desires a harem that much? Very well. Whoever he desires, I will give her to him….. even if I have to blackmail, threaten or torture the girl to the point of insanity. My first target is Malika. For now, she is impossible to beat down…. but I promise that she'll gladly spread her legs for Vacio when I'm done with her!"_ -Shen Yun-

-:-

A few minutes later, the 4 of them transferred into a modest room where they had some tea. They sat around a small round table.

This time, Shen Yun was conscious and was sitting very close to Vacio. For some reason, Shen Yun was stealing short yet intense glances at Malika.

This greatly confused Vacio and Malika.

Malika chose to ignore it completely.

Vacio asked her what was wrong but her response was always 'it's nothing'.

He was getting a lot of bad feelings with Shen Yun's response, but he decide to ignore it for now. He has more pressing matters to attend to.

"Well then, lets get to the heart of the matter. First and foremost, I like to formally introduce myself. I am Hassan I Sabbah, call me Hassan. And I would like to officially invite you to our little sect, The Illuminati"-Hassan-

That raised Vacio's eyebrows.

Illuminati and his Farseer' All Seeing Eye?

Coincidence much?

For now, he pushed his suspicions aside.

"You just invite me? Just like that? There's no way it can be that easy. There must be some sort of initiation rite or something. That's how this things work, right?"-Vacio-

"Ha ha ha. Right you are. While we know you have the brains, we never actually seen your brawns in action. Because of that, we need you to kill something that can help us gauge how strong you really are."-Hassan-

Vacio couldn't help but sigh in resignation.

As much as he wanted to keep himself outside others control, joining a group had too much benefit to ignore.

But more importantly, the Illuminati members doesn't seem to be native to the Dragon Empire. Not having to endure the disgusted glares was a big plus.

For now, he had to explore what rules he has to play with.

"Any info on the target? What about restrictions? Do I have to do it alone?"-Vacio-

"Straight to the point then. Your target is an Ogre the locals call Man Eater. I guess you don't need an explanation why this guy needs to be put down. To make things more interesting, Man Eater is often surrounded by an army of hobgoblins."-Hassan-

"Monster Slaying? Or maybe competing with them? Is the Illuminati working with the Adventurers Guild?"-Vacio-

"Not exactly. Man Eater just happens to fit the criteria to test your skill. We stand to gain nothing from this. But for you, this is a jackpot. "-Hassan-

"I see. Let's leave it at that then. Can I bring others with me?"-Vacio-

"Of course. While this is a test of your strength, the way you approach this is the main criteria for the possible function you will serve in the Illuminati. You can do this alone or bring an army with you. You decide."-Hassan-

"Ha ha ha. I happen to work well when unrestrained."-Vacio-

"That's good to hear. However, we still need to grade your performance, so Malika will be watching you from a distance. Feel free to go nuts"-Hassan-

"Well, that was expected. This wouldn't be a test if it wasn't graded. Anyways, is there a time limit to my entrance exam?"-Vacio-

"Technically there is none. However, the Adventurers Guild has been gathering up a large number people to exterminate Man Eater for almost a week now. They're moving out in 4 days, so you have to do it before then."-Hassan-

"Hmm… No time to waste then"-Vacio-

Hassan provided Vacio with Man Eater's location, an estimate number of the hobgoblin army and the local terrain.

After that, Vacio and Shen Yun with Malika as their guide.

Surprisingly, there was a secret exit near Vacio's cave. That solved the mystery why Malika knew so much of Vacio.

From then on, Vacio made preparations. It has been a while since he went all out. If he wanted to savor the battle that was to come, he might as well go in with a bang.

-:-

3 Days Later

" _Damn…. These guys are really living up to the name Illuminati"_ -Vacio-

After informing Malika via message spell, she led Vacio and Shen Yun through the ever confusing underground tunnel.

Much to Vacio and Shen Yun's surprise, the tunnels extend much farther than they initially thought.

Not only did the tunnels branched out within Bastion City, it also stretched way outside the walls. Thanks to this, the 3 of them were able to bypass the annoyances that would otherwise slow them down.

Man Eater's domain was approximately 2 days away if you went via the normal route. This was because the normal route had to go through 3 mountains with vast forests in between.

Naturally, there were monsters hidden within that forest, thus the actual traveling time might be around 4 to 5 days if you factor everything in.

However, the tunnels allowed the 3 to travel in almost a straight line without any fear of attack. This cut their traveling time to a single day.

The exit they took was about 2 hours south of Man Eater's location.

From there, they split up with Malika and began scouting area.

The battlefield this time around was in the middle of a thick forest. There was something of a village in a certain clearing where the 300 plus hobgoblin army of Man Eater settled in.

There were no humans around….. at least there weren't any living human being. There were dismembered corpses here and there, but that's about it.

As Vacio and Shen Yun studied the terrain, Vacio came to one conclusion.

"This is bad…."-Vacio-

"Is something wrong husband?"-Shen Yun-

Vacio did a double take.

"Er…. Since when did you start calling me husband?"-Vacio-

Shen Yun tilted her head in confusion.

Despite already possessing a disturbing level of beauty, Shen Yun preferred to keep her mask on. Apparently, she was still very uncomfortable without it. From her point of view, people glared at her even more than usual.

It terrified her.

More people did stare at her, but was more of awe for something beautiful than hate for something ugly.

"I started just now. You delivered your end of the bargain. You healed me. You gave me my life back. As promised, I will give you everything I have. Since I am your woman, then I should start by acting like one, right?"-Shen Yun-

"Hmm… you do have a point. However, as much as I want to call you my wife, I happen to be very fond of your name. It's quite beautiful. I hope you understand"-Vacio-

Vacio said this as he gentle caressed Shen Yun on her still developing breasts.

Now normally, Shen Yun would react by lightly punching Vacio in the gut followed by a short nagging session. This was his usual strategy to bring Shen Yun back to her normal self every time she became emotionally unstable.

Nothing like a bit of anger to snap someone back to reality.

What Vacio didn't expect was Shen Yun's lack of anger. She gently grabbed the hand he was using to caress her and gently hugged it as if she received an important gift.

While he couldn't see through her mask, Shen Yun was most certainly smiling as bright as the sun

"I understand. For now, I'll do the same. We wouldn't be much of a married couple until I give birth to our first born, right?"-Shen Yun-

"Wrong Shen Yun. We're already a married couple. The only thing that's keeping me from violating you 5 times a day is that we are in an unsafe place. Having kids this environment is unwise. That's why I'm planning to start a line up north. Strength in numbers and all that"-Vacio-

"Good point…. I guess I'll put that plan on hold for now…"-Shen Yun-

While Shen Yun said the last part of that sentence in a very small voice, Vacio was able to pick it up due to one of the Bards' many social skills.

"…. Hey…. You just said something really scary there… And what the hell is 'that plan'?"-Vacio-

"Hm? I said nothing weird in particular. Anyway, you spotted a problem earlier. What is it?"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun was clearly avoiding the subject.

If they weren't in a potential warzone, Vacio would have pressed her for answers.

By the way, Shen Yun's plan involved a large bottle of extremely powerful aphrodisiac and her homemade cooking. It took her 2 weeks a fair bit of her savings to have it smuggled from oversees.

This was yet another headache Vacio would have to deal with in the future.

"*sigh* I'll let it slide for now but you're going to tell me all about it when we get back."-Vacio-

"Hm? What do you mean? I didn't say anything. And besides, we still have to deal with that army of Goblins."-Shen Yun-

" _This bitch... playing dumb while trying to manipulate others. Typical women. I'll drag the answer out of her later!"_ -Vacio-

"The terrain is bad for us."-Vacio-

"Really? Why? From my point of view, its ideal for a small group like ours to take on a larger force like the hobgoblin army. There's lots of place to maneuver and a large number places to hide. Perfect for guerrilla warfare. "-Shen Yun-

True enough, despite the area being a thick forest, the spacing between the trees was big to execute high speed maneuvers. The multitude number of caves, sink holes, tall trees and rivers allowed a lot of hiding spaces for those with a little creativity.

However, there lies the problem.

"While you're not wrong, the same goes the same for them. Since this is their home base, they know it better than we do. And besides, we're fighting on time constraint. If we didn't have that, then guerrilla warfare is definitely the way to go."-Vacio-

"Then what should we do?"- Shen Yun-

"For now, let's study the area a little bit more"-Vacio-

For the next 3 hours, the 2 of them went around the area in hopes of finding a solution to their problem. Sadly, things didn't look good for them.

There was no clever trick to be had. No potential flaw to be exploited. No means to get around the 2-vs-300+ battle.

And thus, Vacio was forced to use the plan that he hoped not to use. It was a plan that lacked art, finesse or rational thought.

Calling it a 'Plan' was downright degrading to the word.

Unfortunately, he was dealt with a bad hand. So rather play the game with a losing set of cards, he'd rather destroy the game itself.

-:-

Same Day

Midnight

It was a calm and silent night.

The clouds covered the moon and the stars, thus making this night especially dark.

The goblins and their Ogre leader Man Eater was doing their usual thing at this time of night. Some of them were sleeping, some were eating and some were raping their fellow brethren due to the lack of females to rape.

Monsters live on a very different spectrum compared to the humans.

In the monster world, might makes right.

If you didn't like another man shove his meat stick up your ass, then do something about! Kill him if you have to!

If you're too weak to even do that, then sucks to be you

Barbaric as it might sound, this type of society actually worked well for the monsters.

A clear hierarchy and a dictatorial rule made their little society efficient in a mindlessly violent sort of way.

Man Eater was particularly large compared to those of his race. He was big, fat yet had the strength to match his size.

The main reason why there weren't any other ogres aside from him in this group because he killed and ate them after a dispute.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch that he was the king of the hill.

Because of this particular title, Man Eater has grown quite a bit of instincts that have allowed him to survive over the years.

Once again, this instinct has kicked into high gear.

Man Eater stood wide awake while his goblin minions slept quietly.

He wasn't sure what it was, but a heavy sense of dread was covering the air. It was as if a predator was stalking him just outside his field of vision.

The feeling he got from his unknown assailant was not a predator toying with his prey, but a hunter planning his next move.

It wasn't like the regular idiots that Man Eater often dealt with. This felt like so much worse.

Man Eater had a skill that no other ogre had, a powerful sense of smell. It may not look like much, bit has allowed him to survive ambushes and plan attacks.

Man Eater sniffed the air and was able to figure out some things about his opponents.

First, they were approximately 1 kilometer from Man Eater's current position. They were on a slightly elevated slope that led up the mountain.

Based on how light the scents were, the enemy didn't have numbers on their side. There was at most 2, and much to Man Eater delight, one of them was female.

His meat stick stood at attention as he imagined violating the girl. He found it entertaining to see how long they would last after giving birth multiple times to his offspring.

Would they go insane from pain and pleasure, or would their body break and die?

Man Eater was excited but he wasn't careless.

A couple of things were off in this scenario.

First, the main reason why Man Eater was able to spot them so easily was because his current location was downwind of his enemies. Their scent was easily carried by the wind.

Was this carelessness on his enemy's part? Or was it a deliberate plot?

This uncertainty made Man Eater nervous.

And then there's their lack of numbers.

Were they at the level where 2 of them would easily wipe out his hobgoblin army? Or did they have a plan to overcome the large difference in numbers?

While Man Eater pondered on the possibilities, he spotted a flaming arrow shot from the distance.

He couldn't help but smirk at the pitiful attempt.

There was 1 kilometer of distance between his village and his enemies. Only the very best martial artists that practiced the rare bow arts would have been able to shoot a target 1 kilometer away.

As expected, the arrow flew a maximum of 200 meters before plunging into the earth.

At this point, Man Eater's instinct screamed at him to run for his life.

As the fire arrow entered the tree line, a firestorm quickly spread throughout the forest. Like an unstoppable avalanche, the firestorm engulf the entire valley within a few seconds.

Before Man Eater could bark out orders, area that he ruled was turned into a sea of flames

-:-

While Vacio couldn't see through the mask, Shen Yun was most certainly shocked by the sudden event. The intense heat of an entire valley burning was nothing to be scoffed at.

"V-Vacio…. I know we prepared for nearly the entire day for this attack… but what just happened?!"-Shen Yun-

"Well I did promise you one hell of a fireworks."-Vacio-

"Yes you did… But this…. I was expecting an explosion… not a firestorm "-Shen Yun-

"Fu fu fu. Very well, I shall now explain. Those round things we planted all over the forest is called 'Dragons Breath'. It's a type of smoke bomb that disperses a mist of 'Methane'. It is a gas that is colorless, odorless and highly flammable."-Vacio-

"I see…. But to think those ball sized spheres could produce such a massive firestorm…"-Shen Yun-

"On its own, it has enough umph in them to burn a house down. In this case, I had to use all 500 Dragons Breath I saved up over the past few months…. *sob*"-Vacio-

This particular plan was horribly expensive. This was the main reason why Vacio wanted to avoid it at all costs!

Since he took his ingredients straight from the wild, Vacio didn't pay a single piece of gold. However, the time and effort to make 500 Dragon's Breath was no laughing matter.

All of that effort gone…. In a single instant!

Damn it all to hell!

However, while he did chose the brute force method to solve this problem, there was still a fair bit of strategy involved.

This was actually similar to what Vacio did with the poison bombs in the goblin cave though in a much larger scale and with a bit of meteorology involved.

They spent the entire day planting Dragons Breath at key locations in order to ensure the fire engulfs the entire valley. They finished this particular task around lunch time.

Since then, they gathered the remaining Dragons Breath in their current location and waited till nightfall.

They pretty much flirted the entire time.

FYI: Vacio had doubts earlier, but after such a long flirting session, he was now sure. Something happened to Shen Yun's mental state. Though she still had the bearing of a cultured lady, she was slowly ramping up her aggressive sexual behavior.

At first they were just sitting side by side.

Next, Vacio had Shen Yun lie on his lap. For some reason, he was the one performing the lap pillow and not the other way around. Her hand would occasionally go to his butt and she would occasionally sink her face into his nether regions.

But the next thing was a bit more erotic.

What Shen Yun did was the Lotus Flower position (Google it!) without any intercourse. They simply talked while they hugged each other. Nothing more.

Never the less, it was scary how a calm and shy girl would suddenly shift her attitude into a more aggressive one.

… Vacio needed to research on the probable cause of it…

Anyways, Vacio chose to attack at night for 2 main reasons.

First, all of the hobgoblins returned to the village for some sleep. This made things easier for Vacio because all of his targets were now gathered in one spot.

The second reason was due to a meteorological phenomenon called a 'Mountain Breeze'.

In layman's terms, a mountain breeze occurs at night when the heavier cold air descends down the mountain slope thus forcing the lighter warm air in the middle of the valley to go up.

'Why was this important?'

Vacio actually abused this phenomenon in order to spread the methane gas all over the valley.

Similar to the poison bombs in the past, Vacio and Shen Yun hastily popped about 200 Dragons Breath from the slopes in order for the Mountain Breeze to spread it all over the valley.

Due to methane's small density, it didn't take too long for it to spread.

From that point onward, Vacio fired a flaming arrow towards a large concentration of Dragons Breath bombs and watched heaven and earth burn.

"*sigh*…. While I am happy that your plan worked, it is a shame that we didn't get to fight. You even gave me such wonderful weapons and armor. Truly a shame"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun's battle attire was very stylish. She sported a blood red, long sleeve cheongsam that exposed no skin what so ever.

Her legs were covered with jet black stockings with golden skull prints. Just to be clear, Shen Yun was the one that placed those prints there.

Her shoes were red slip on types.

As per usual, her face was covered by a jet white mask and her short green hair complemented her mysterious look.

As for her armor, she sported light plate armor comprising of cuirass and gauntlets. For her weapon, she had a decent sized halberd.

Sadly, she couldn't use any of Vacio's trick armors and weapons. Her class probably lacked the proficiencies.

All in all she was your typical light weight, heavy hitting attacker.

As for Vacio, besides his usual black leather armor and white hannya mask he now had gauntlets for both arms, greaves on both legs, a collapsible bow, a bit of trick arrows and his one hand skull mace.

"Your in luck, Shen Yun. There's no way something like this could kill Man Eater"-Vacio-

Vacio took out 2 small bottles that contained the buffs Ogre's Strength and Fiend's Endurance. He downed them with one gulp each.

But he didn't stop there.

Activate Song: Guardian's Hymn

Bark Skin

Reinforce Armor

Shield Wall

Resistance

Lesser Strength

Divine Shield

He coated his and Shen Yun's weapon with 'Thorny Rose' which temporarily grants the weapon additional bleed effect

To Vacio, this is without a doubt a boss battle. No level of preparation is too much.

Barely a few seconds after Vacio finished their preparations, the earth shook as Man Eater plowed through the trees and rushed towards them in blind rage.

"Remember to listen to my commands and we'll be fine. Got it?"-Vacio-

"Understood"-Shen Yun-

At 50 meters distance between them and Man Eater, Vacio took out his bow and fire 3 arrows at once.

As expected of Man Eater, he simply took the flimsy looking arrows like they were nothing

A big mistake.

Man Eater roared in pain as thousands of volts coursed through his body.

These arrows were called 'Tasers' and like their name suggested, they electrocute their prey. However, these arrows were Tasers on steroids.

These weren't made to disable.

These were made to kill.

However, Man Eater was a boss for nothing. Even through the pain, the ogre continued his reckless charge at a much higher speed.

Vacio didn't have a lot of trick arrows. They were much harder to make compared to potions and bombs.

Because he was still hurting from the loss of the 500 Dragons Breath, he decided to use one last trick arrow before moving in for close range.

He took out an extremely thick arrow made entirely of glass. The arrow itself was so thick that it looked like a short spear.

Vacio fired the arrow, but Man Eater learned his lesson from the Taser arrows.

Man Eater unsheathed a massive cleaver and smacked the arrow right out of the air.

Once again, a big mistake.

The thick arrow shattered with relative ease and unleashed a green-ish liquid all over the area.

Once again, Man Eater roared in agony.

Man Eater's eyes were badly irritated and breathing became painful.

This trick arrow was the 'Pepper Spray'. Just like its name suggested, the arrow did no damage, but it gave the enemies affected by it a very nasty debuff of decreased accuracy and slower movespeed.

Vacio charged towards Man Eater while Shen Yun followed 10 meters behind.

As Vacio approached, he made use of the Trickster's signature weapons, the 'Trick Daggers'. Quite simply, they were bombs in the shape of daggers in order to make them aerodynamic.

The main drawback of the Trick Daggers was they lacked the big BOOM of a regular bomb, but this was more than made up by how easy they were to make, how spammable they were and how varied their effects were.

Vacio threw Trick Dagger after Trick Dagger as the distance between him and Man Eater shrunk.

Each time the dagger hit its mark, Man Eater's pain experience expands.

Highly corrosive acid

Napalm fire

Shrapnel bomb

Poison mist

Classic poison knife

Ear splitting sound bomb

The list goes on and on.

Not only was this physically taxing, it was also mentally draining because Man Eater had no idea what this dangerous cocktail of daggers was doing to his body.

Vacio showered Man Eater with Trick Daggers until they entered melee range.

Man Eater wasted no time and swung his cleaver down onto his opponent's head. Sadly it didn't connect.

" **Force Push!** "-Vacio-

Man Eater's was blown back 10 meters, effectively messing up his tempo.

Before the ogre could recover, Vacio's snake sword plunges into its shoulder.

And just like Batman, Vacio's grappling hook/snake sword pulled him toward the ogre with so much speed that they collided with a loud bang.

Vacio quickly corrected his posture because not a millisecond later, the enraged Man Eater a powerful horizontal swing at him.

Vacio parried, and at the same time, threw a trick dagger while he ran to the side.

Man Eater attacked as he chased Vacio, but the young one was extremely good at parrying, blocking and dodging. None of the ogre's attacks was able to land a clean hit.

While the 2 locked into a one on one combat…

"NOW!"-Vacio-

Because the ogre was so focused on Vacio, Shen Yun was able to get behind their target and was in the perfect position to do damage.

She activated the Barbarian's Rage and launched herself towards Man Eater's back.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"-Shen Yun-

Her halberd cleaved through Man Eater's back with such visceral power that blood spurted all over.

Shen Yun might only be level 8 but the items she possessed were the best Vacio could offer. In terms of quality, Shen Yun's armaments rivaled Vacio's.

And because of her items and Vacio's non offensive build, Shen Yun was only slightly weaker than Vacio when her Rage skill was active.

However, because Shen Yun had higher agility than Vacio when her rage was active, she could attack more often. As such, Shen Yun became a whirlwind of death as she carved Man Eater's backside with a barrage of brutal strikes.

Man Eater quickly identified Shen Yun as a greater threat and tried to turn around to face her, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case at all. Because, the one in front of him was so much worse.

Vacio threw a 'Flash Bomb' at Man Eater's face, causing it to flinch from the blinding light.

Vacio capitalized by wrapping his snake blade around Man Eaters neck and pulled with all his might.

With the combination of Vacio's pulling and Shen Yun's relentless beat down from behind, Man Eater tripped forward and was fell on all fours.

" _Well, isn't this perfect?"_ -Vacio-

With Man Eater's head was within reach, Vacio gathered up all of his strength and performed a powerful baseball swing.

The brain rattling strike floored Man Eater. Like a boxer at the receiving end of a knockout punch, Man Eater was badly disoriented.

Man Eater crawled and tried to get back up, but his dizziness caused him to stumble multiple times.

To make matters worse for the ogre, Vacio and Shen Yun's attacked increased in volume and ferocity because they realized that their pray was not only in a defenseless state, but also on its last leg.

Man Eater threw strikes out of desperation, however, such disoriented attacks failed to hit their mark.

Even if Man Eater hit something, it would be Vacio at the receiving end and that strike would be blocked or parried.

Man Eater was going against an invincible brick wall that struck back really really hard.

An undying opponent that was slowly chipping away your life away…. This was the ultimate torture for a warrior.

With dread and fear that it hasn't experienced for long time, Man Eater broke into a mad dash in a desperate attempt to save his life.

Naturally, Vacio and Shen Yun were like sharks that smelled fresh blood.

Vacio wrapped his snake blade on Man Eater's right leg and snared him down, causing the poor ogre to hit the ground face first.

Shen Yun jumped on its back and unleashed all of her wrath unto the poor soul.

Vacio jumped in and followed suit.

Man Eater rolled over to swat the 2 off his back.

Unfortunately for him, Vacio was able to parry and violently counter any and all of his strikes.

Man Eater tried to beg for mercy but the second he opened his mouth, Shen Yun stabbed her halberd into it.

And with a violent movement, Shen Yun redirected her halberd to puncture Man Eater's brain from the inside.

And just like that, the battle was over.

Man Eater went down faster than Vacio originally predicted. This was probably because Man Eater took the firestorm head on.

Vacio estimated that the Man Eater was a raid boss around level 30. With the threat of a potentially large level gap and an army of hobgoblins in the enemy's side, he didn't hesitate to invest all of his Dragons Breath into this single sneak attack.

However, it seemed that his initial assessment was off the mark.

Man Eater was probably close to Vacio's level.

Boss monsters were often much tougher than most. Even if Vacio had a 5-10 level advantage against a boss, it would still take him some to bring down.

"Well, I guess that's that."-Vacio-

While Vacio was reviewing what happened, Shen Yun suddenly jump into his chest and hugged him.

"We did it! I cant believe it! We really took so many down! It's amazing!"-Shen Yun-

Vacio took off Shen Yun's mask and lightly kissed her on the forehead.

"Of course we did it. I once told you that your weakness was temporary. It may take some time but there will come a time when these level of opponents would be nothing to you. All you need to do is follow me."-Vacio-

Shen Yun remained silent as she gave Vacio her best smile.

"Well then, mission complete. Time to fall back"-Vacio-

The 2 of them walked hand in hand as they made their way back to the Illuminati's secret tunnel entrance.

The ironic thing was that the way they walked away was similar to a couple flirting on a Saturday morning stroll.

Amidst the scorched earth and the large chunks of corpses, the foolish couple was happy and content.

-:-

2 Days Later

The army of 200 adventurers finally arrived after their long and perilous trek through the mountains.

They were led by members of the God Blade Alliance.

Unlike the other martial artists of Bastion City that focused way to much in cultivation, God Blade Alliance often sets a limit to how long their students could cultivate per month.

On the other hand, the God Blade Alliance forced their students into the adventurer lifestyle. This was in order to expand their horizons and allow them to see the world as it truly was.

More often than not, students from the God Blade Alliance were much more equipped to deal with whatever the world threw at them compared to their counterparts in other sects.

While the Heavenly Palm Sect was widely considered to produce the strongest martial artists, the God Blade Alliance were the most powerful in terms of influence. This was because God Blade Alliance had friends and connections all over map compared to the usual reclusive cultivators (aka everyone else).

Qiao Yu was among the students that were brought by their master in this monster extermination mission.

However, their original mission changed into a forensic investigation.

The entire forest within the valley and nearly everything within it was burned to a crisp. The 300 hundred hobgoblins that would cause their group the most headache was charcoal black.

The only thing that wasn't burned to death was their target Man Eater.

But the massive ogre was probably worse off compared to the hobgoblins.

His body was beaten, stabbed, burned, poisoned and gauged to death. If they didn't know better, this would be a site where severe torture was performed.

However, the thing that had them worried was the lack of any clue as to who did this.

The only conclusion the group could think up was that Man Eater was killed by a supreme expert whom just happened to pass by.

Were they satisfied with this explanation?

Heavens no!

But with no other lead as to the identity of the ones that instigated this massacre, any guess they made was as good as speculation.

However, this was not the case for Qiao Yu.

Her face ashen as she studied the face of the ogre Man Eater.

She could tell from the familiar scent that irritated her nostrils that this was similar to something that she had experienced a few weeks ago.

It was the martial arts that the mysterious X used to beat her in the martial arts tournament.

There was no way she could mistake the putrid smell that clung to her for days.

But what did it all mean?

Could it be that the mysterious X was responsible for the carnage that happened in the valley?

Was this the young child that she tried to provoke into using his full power?

" _No way…. There's just no way its him!"_ -Qiao Yu-

If she felt fear when facing against X the last time they met, now she felt absolute horror and dread.

-:-

 **Authors Notes**

I write this Authors Notes with a heavy heart.

For those who have followed me over the years, you would know that I suddenly became inactive due to real life problems.

Welp, allow me to explain.

When a company is forced to downside due to economic reasons, the best way to do that is to layoff employees. I was one of the many who get axed because my work wasnt really important in the grander scheme of things.

At the time, I was literally homeless. I even pawned my beloved laptop (which contained all of my stories) for money good for a week of food.

Fortunately, I was able to find new work before my wallet completely ran dry.

I've been working in a small restaurant for a couple of years now and I was even able to buy myself a fairly old but decent laptop with my small salary.

While I'm still technically homeless, I am allowed to live in the restaurant.

Unfortunately, there have been signs of things going south once again.

The restaurant has been experiencing some tough times due to certain events in my country that caused people to be reluctant to eat out (FUCK YOU ISIS!)

Due to the lower customer count, the restaurant had to cost cut in order to make ends meet.

I wasnt fired, but my meager salary was cut in half.

I'm not particularly angry about it. I'm even thankful that they allowed me to stay and work for them. Having a roof on top of my head is a lifesaver.

Finding another job is also out of the question. My advanced age and low qualifications made it extremely hard to compete with the fresh graduates.

And thus, I am forced to taint my stories in order to survive...

Please Support Me on !

I seriously dont want to stop writing and selling my laptop (and my stories) for food for the second time will break my heart.

Once again, please support me on P a treon (for some reason the word doesnt appear)

p a treon.c0m/Ginobi47

Please allow me to continue writing good stories for you to enjoy!

I thank you for your support and hope that I can write many more stories for your pleasure!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Heroes And Villains

-:-

4 Months Later

Illuminati's Inverted Castle beneath Bastion City

Midnight

6 people sat around a round table made of fancy pure white marble within a fancy pure white room. Curiously enough, there were 7 seats. One of them was vacant for some reason.

In line of the white motif, every last one of them, though wearing attires from completely different civilizations, where all white in color.

2 of these people were the annoyed Malika and Hassan who was throwing unrestricted lustful gazes at Malika.

The other 4 was a Dracula ripoff aristocratic knight, an extremely muscular four armed Mahatma Gandhi wanabe, a really creepy witch doctor and a ninja….. a really REALLY big sumo ninja.

"I've been wondering….. While this clothes of mine matches my cultures aesthetics, is it possible that I am wearing a provocative outfit?"-Malika-

As per usual, Malika was wearing something akin to an Arabian belly dancer. However, the white motif of her current outfit combined with her lightly brown skin does bring out a sense of sensual purity…. Something of which that lolicons found extremely irresistible.

And almost immediately, Malika regretted asking the question

"That depends really. If you were someone with a much fuller figure, then I guess that outfit of yours does indeed qualify as erotic"-Dracula ripoff-

The aristocratic vampire offered his two cents as he took a sip of a wine glass filled with red liquid. It was probably blood of some humanoid.

This man was Vladimir Alucard, a former noble of the Baharuth Empire before he was purged by the Bloody Emperor.

"Young Vladimir, beauty is very subjective. While some people think of our Malika as nothing but skin and bones, others lust for her immature beauty in a similar manner of hungry lions desiring their first meal of the day"-Witch Doctor-

The witch doctor was named Voodoo. While he does have an official name, he refused to use it after his entire body was burned to a crisp during the witch hunts in his country.

Since then, he constantly wore a large scary witch doctor mask and constantly covered his body with blue warpaint.

"I don't know about that Voodoo. While it is true that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, there are other factors such as cultural influence, traditional view of beauty, laws and available erotic material. For all we know, the beauty in one city might not be the same as the other."-Gandhi wanabe-

The Gandhi wanabe was Asura, once a famed guru in his country before he made deals with many devils to kill one of his country's famed Godkin when the bastard raped his daughter.

Since then, he had to live in constant warfare against hordes of bounty hunters due to the massive bounty on his head.

Mind you, Asura enjoyed his current lifestyle quite a lot. To no longer be bound by petty morals and to be able to do as he pleased was the freedom he never had before.

Quite suddenly, the sumo ninja stood up which caused everyone to focus on him.

The sumo ninja took a deep breath, and with a booming voice, he declared….

"FLAT IS JUSTICE!"-Sumo Ninja-

"Right you are my friend!"-Hassan-

While Hassan was already well known to be open to his lolicon tastes, the Sumo Ninja's preference was a mystery prior to this moment. He always kept to himself most of the time.

Presenting the Sumo Ninja named Yokozuna.

Once a famed champion of the Sumo world, his fall from grace started when his origins as a ninja was exposed. Since then, he was accused of using the ninja arts to cheat his way to the top.

Naturally, this was not true. Yokozuna fought for his title fair and square.

And naturally, no one believed him and even tried to have him killed for disgracing Sumo. Unfortunately for them, Yokozuna was a masterful ninja despite being his size.

Who knew someone who was as fat as a cow could move like a butterfly and sting like a wreaking ball.

And now that Yokozuna admitted his inclination to DFC, Malika made a mental note not to be misled of Yokozuna's 'kindness'.

Malika couldn't help but fear for the future of the Illuminati. One look around the round table and she wondered if these were truly the leaders of a small organization that had dreams of global domination.

While each of them had his/her own private organization composed of thousands of members, she couldn't help but wonder if the ones in front of her that were debating so intensely on the meaning of beauty were also the leaders of the organizations that once destroyed a nation.

For now, Malika did her best to push her anxieties aside and changed the course of the meeting away from the beauty of flat chests.

"Ahem. Let's get to the topic at hand. I nominate Vacio for the 7th seat. We have been testing him for the past few months and I think he has more than proven his worth."-Malika-

The table turned serious at Malika's statement.

The first to give his opinion was Asura.

"I admit he has more than enough capabilities. With that disturbing speed of gaining strength, I can even vouch that he is a Godkin. I approve of Malika's proposal"-Asura-

Vladimir raised his hand.

"While I have no problem with accepting the Godkin into our ranks, I think everyone will understand my reservations. Am I right?"-Vladimir-

"Yeah…. I think Vacio would be fine in any other seat…. But 'this' particular seat is a bit troublesome."-Voodoo-

Everyone excluding Malika nodded in agreement.

The Illuminati was found a few hundred years ago around the existence of a holy artifact known as 'Sancti Poenas'.

This was a powerful artifact that sealed away 7 archangels that were said to once ruled the Dragon Empire.

No one knew who sealed them there, but the 7 archangels were extremely prideful and believed that only through their guidance can the world be truly happy.

While the archangels themselves promoted holiness and peace, they were extremely closed minded and quite infuriating to deal with.

Normally people would expect humility and compassion from holy beings. In reality, it is because the archangels were holy that they viewed themselves as better than everyone else and resulted of them being insufferable dicks.

Now what did this have to do with the 7th seat of the Illuminati?

Quite simply, every member of the Illuminati must form a contract with one of the 7 archangels.

'Form a contract' was a sugar coated phrase for 'beating down, breaking the archangel's will to resist and corrupt them to support Illumnati's endevores'.

Why bother with such a tiresome thing?

Quite simply, the Illuminati have always been severely understaffed. Compared to the enemies they go up against, their numbers were miniscule. Given their tradition of abandoning their original race for monstrous power, it was no surprise that recruits don't line up to join them.

And thus, they took any power they can get their hands on…. Even the annoying ones.

At the moment, the master-slave contract between the Illuminati members and the archangels were as follows:

Asura = Archangel Azriel

Yokozuna= Archangel Samiel

Malika = Archangel Raphael

Voodoo = Archangel Michael

Vladimir = Archangel Gabriel

Hassan = Archangel Ramiel

The only one that hasn't been successfully enslaved was Archangel Uriel. About 4 hopefuls tried to enslave the haughty archangel, only to have their body blown to oblivion for their efforts.

Since then, the 7th seat remained unoccupied.

Technically speaking, Uriel was the weakest of the 7 archangels, however, most people that had the ability to counter Uriel's powerful mental attacks weren't exactly strong either.

Sadly, all of the current leaders of the Illuminati were not equipped to deal with Uriel's mental interference. By this world's standard, they were very strong but they were specialized in offense (just like almost every martial artist in the Dragon Empire).

A rare defensive specialist and an even rarer person who wasn't turned off by the Illuminati's monstrous nature was someone they must have.

And because of Vacio's rarity, the Illuminati members were very reluctant to throw him at Uriel.

However, Malika was confident that Vacio was more than ready.

"If the table is still in doubt, then I suggest giving our new recruit one final test before confronting Uriel. The paper in front of you is a mission proposal I crafted myself. I think this is the perfect measuring stick for his ability to dominate Uriel"-Malika-

The 5 Illuminati members scanned through Malika's mission details and the reactions were varied.

"Oy oy oy! Are you crazy?! Isnt this too big of a move?!"-Voodoo-

"Really? I think it lines up with the proper mindset to corrupt Uriel. I support this mission"-Vladimir-

"It's not the mission details I have a problem with. It's the mission area and the people involved that I'm worried about!"-Voodoo-

The target area was Flowing River City, a prosperous merchant city 1 week away from Bastion City.

The target was Qing Yue, the daughter of the City Lord and the haremite of the Sword Saint

The mission was that of seduction, coercion or brainwashing.

"Malika, I know you are the brains of Illuminati and all of us deeply respect you for that…. But isn't home wreaking a bit too much? I never thought you were a fan of NTR…. That's unsettling…."-Hassan-

Yokozuna and Voodoo nodded in agreement of Hassan's statement.

"Really? I actually support this plan." –Vladimir-

"Why?! Stealing another man's lover is low no matter how you slice it!"-Voodoo-

In response, Asura quickly raised his opinion

"I approve of this plan as well. While it's time consuming and a quite risky, we're killing two birds with one stone if Malika's test succeeds….. And I think it's so much better than our original plan"-Asura-

The Illuminati members couldn't help but agree.

Their original plan involved a bit of strong arming, blackmailing and a mountian of dead bodies.

Why?

Because Illuminati members all had sacrificed their original race to become monsters. No one trusts monsters.

And since there was a universal hate for monsters, engaging in dialogue without a large amount of gold or threats of dismemberment were nigh impossible to perform.

Hence aggressive negotiations became their default.

However, there was an opportunity to avoid this unsavory process entirely.

Truth be told, they actually didn't need to target Qing Yue specifically. There was a large amount of entry points that they could use in order to gain a foothold within Flowing River City.

All the Illuminati cared about the damn city was the money they could make . It was nothing more than a glorified piggy bank.

Unfortunately, this required them to kill a fair bit of people in order to gain favors among the corrupt officials of Flowing River.

Being in the beck and call of such people was quite annoying.

Fortunately, Vacio was still human…. For now at least.

The Illuminati happened to know Qing Yue's personality and preferences. All they need to do was supply Vacio with the info and have him seduce the foolish teenage girl that saw herself as the princess that the hero of a story was going to marry.

While each Illuminati member had his/her own private army that they could use to invade Flowing River, they were all spread too thin all throughout the Dragon Empire. The Illuminati simply didn't have the numbers to wage war.

Why send an army that may not come back in one piece when it could be accomplished by just one person?

Everyone understood this…. But aside from the moral disgust for NTR, there was another problem that made Voodoo, Hassan and Yokozuna reluctant to send Vacio into Flowing River City

"And what about the Sword Saint?"-Voodoo-

The Sword Saint Makoto was someone the Illuminati had their eyes on. Like Vacio, he was probably a Godkin who gained power at a disturbing rate.

Initially, they wanted to recruit Makoto simply because he was strong.

Unfortunately, it didn't take them long to realize that Makoto was a traditional hero type character. Kind to a fault, trusts like an idiot, saves damsel in distress like a horny white knight desperate for pussy and a dense dumbass. He also believed that monsters are bad, humans (or those that looked like humans) are good.

Aside from Malika who had the lolicon god's blessing, the Illuminati leaders looked like bona fide monsters.

To make matters worse, for some unknown reason, Makoto knew of the Illuminati's existence and has already labeled them as evil…. Though that assumption wasn't wrong at all.

"Unfortunately, Qing Yue is already promised to marry the Sword Saint's harem when they defeat the 'Demon King'. Vacio is going to have a hard time stealing away Qing Yue from Makoto…. I hope Makoto EXPLODES!"-Yokozuna-

All eyes focused on Yokozuna.

Quite simply, this was the first time the group has ever heard Yokozuna spoke such a long sentence and with such passion. Normally it was just one or two words, as if he was playing the role of a mysterious ninja.

"Ho…. I've known you for over 100 years yet this probably the first time I ever seen you break out of character. I never thought you had it in you Yokozuna"-Vladimir-

"How can I not get pissed at him! Makoto is about 14 years old and he already has a harem of 4! A HAREM! Why does he have a harem while I don't?! This is an injustice I tell you! All people that have harems should just explode!"-Yokozuna-

Valdimir and Asura couldn't help but look away from Yokozuna.

Truth be told, both of them had harems within their own private army. Naturally, they would never tell Yokozuna that.

"Just so you know, Vacio has the potential to get his own harem. Remember which archangel we're trying to force on him"-Malika-

"THEN HE SHOULD EXPLODE TOO!"-Yokozuna-

"" _Wow… he is so pathetic….""_ -Illuminati members-

As Yokozuna raged on and while the other Illuminati members tried to calm the sumo ninja, Hassan used the Farseer's All Seeing Eye to check on the situation within Flowing River City.

Quite simply, shit hit the proverbial fan.

"Er… Yokozuna? I think you don't need to wish for Vacio's demise."-Hassan-

"And why shouldn't I?! All popular guys should just get kicked by a horse and die!"-Yokozuna-

"Well…. He's already fighting the Sword Saint"-Hassan-

Silence descended over the table.

The Sword Saint was more than just a fancy title. It was one of the Dragon Empire's most prestigious label to people with exceptional skill and high contribution to the empire. The Sword Saint was a VIP in Dragon Empire and people would be lining up just to rub elbows with him.

Now imagine what the implications were when a member of the Illuminati was fighting the Dragon Empire's VIP.

The Illuminati leadership couldn't help but facepalm at the sudden news.

"Well…. shit"-Hassan-

-:-

14 Hours Ago

Vacio was quite frustrated.

Like an itch that he could barely reach, Vacio has something he wanted but couldn't achieve due to various circumstances way beyond his control.

What was this annoyance?

Quite simply, Vacio wanted EXP!

Lots and Lots of EXP!

He was close! So damn close! At level 28, he was only 2 more levels short of reaching the absolute core class of his Versi-Tank Build!

Mind you, every class he has taken up were necessary stepping stone for his versi-tank build, but the next class was the 'Tank' of the Versi-Tank Build.

While he was tougher compared to regular builds, this was the result of multiple classes synergizing with each other to pull off a PC with large defensive stats that don't appear in the character sheet (active buffs, passive that adds another stat to defensive stats, etc)

However, this was actually overcompensating for the lack of actual defensive skills that classes like Guardians or Defenders could attain naturally.

Because of Vacio's desire to get his absolute core class as fast as possible, he took all the quests the Illuminati gave to him. They were normal subjugation quests, thus they weren't particularly hard.

And there lies the problem.

The problem with the typical RPG leveling was the increased EXP required to move up a level while the decreased EXP gained from killing monsters that were below the player's current level

Killing the 300 Hobgoblins was barely worth half a level. This was because Vacio was at the point where the EXP gained from level 10s were chump change.

Killing Man Eater was worth an entire level. That's to be expected of a boss monster.

Completing the 'Kill Man Eater' quest was worth another half level. This was actually quite big since the quest was close to Vacio's level.

Since then, Vacio has struggled greatly in gaining EXP.

Despite all of the quests he took, despite all of the crafting he made and despite all of the traveling he did during his quests, Vacio gained only 1 level after 4 months!

However, this painful grind was due to the lack of decent quests.

Aside from the Man Eater quest, the only things available were subjugations of goblins, hobgoblins and the occasional orcs.

But it wasn't all monster subjugation. While still extremely poor in EXP gains, missions concerning humans and demi-humans was a surprisingly fun activity.

Monsters could only grunt, roar, scream and talk in simple human language. Killing them became repetitive after a while.

On the other hand, quests with civilized participants had a story behind them. There were simple yet fairly decent plot behind every request, and this little spice of drama was the main ingredient that made these types of quests so enjoyable.

Vacio and Shen Yun was currently undertaking a simple 'guard the caravan' quest with a few civilian traders and a couple of their mercenary friends.

Why were they doing that?

It was because they just finished an ogre subjugation and was on their way back to Flowing River City for their reward and their next set of instructions.

Monster subjugation was actually starting to dry out due to the Adventurers Guild started an investigation as to who's the one responsible for taking away their business.

The Adventurers Guild was a business right down to its very core. Make no mistake of assuming that adventurers were good Samaritans, because they were far from it. They were glorified mercenaries that were specialized in monster subjugation.

They wouldn't move a muscle if there wasn't profit involved.

And because their profit was taking a hit, the Adventurers Guild actually began hunting the 'culprits'. This was the main reason why Vacio and Shen Yun, the culprits, decided to lay low for a bit.

Like any quest that revolved around civilized beings, there were annoyances all around.

"Hey kid, that girl Shen Yun is your woman right? How about I give you 20 gold pieces for a night with her. Not a bad deal right?"-annoying mercenary 1-

Vacio couldn't help but feel frustrated at the constant annoyance that has hounded him since the beginning of this worthless journey.

At the moment, Vacio forced Shen Yun to wear only half of her mask. Her current mask covered only the right side of her face, while the left side was for all the people to see.

This was in order for her to get used to being looked at.

In the past, she would have panic attacks whenever anyone aside from Lao Wing or Vacio would see her face. To make matters worse, the panic attacks combined with the unstable emotions brought upon by her berserker class has made her extremely deadly to most people.

Her panic attacks were not the type that would cause her to choke on her breath and leave her immobile. It much much worse than that.

Her panic attack causes her to 'attack' out of 'panic' that was turned into rage.

From her point of view, everyone who saw her face were laughing and jeering at her. Naturally, this wasn't true given how godly her face was, but years of harassment have made her mind believe it was so.

In order to avoid the unnecessary slaughters that would inevitably come, the best way to cure Shen Yun was through immersion.

At first, Vacio removed the top left part of Shen Yun's mask. When She got used to everyone's gaze, Vacio removed the lower left of her mask.

And of course, Vacio's plan backfired spectacularly.

The original intention was for Shen Yun to able to be able to interact with others normally. This didn't happen.

The first time Vacio removed a part of her mask, she entered panic attack mode as expected.

Vacio calmed her down by hugging her and telling her "I'm here. It's alright. Just imagine that everyone is just trees or rocks. All that matters is that me and Lao Wing are with you".

This process repeated quite a few times before Shen Yun could walk around normally without any panic attacks

Shen Yun could indeed walk down the street and talk to the shop owners without any corpses in her wake.

Initially, Vacio thought it was a success…. Oh how wrong he was.

About a week ago, Vacio found out how distorted she has become without his knowledge.

When Vacio asked Shen Yun what was the name of shop owner X or the kids that greeted her as she went on a stroll, she answer: "They are things. No one names every grass they stepped on."

To be accurate, Shen Yun saw people that didn't matter to her as silhouettes without any distinguishing features. She never initiates conversation with anyone unless she absolutely have to (ex. Buying food) because she cant tell one from the other.

She often ignored anyone who was not worth her time.

Because of this, flirting with her was nigh impossible because she cant tell what anyone looked like. To her everyone was a shadow and she found them disgusting.

Anyone who got pissed off with her cold and uncaring demeanor usually grabbed her…. Then screams often followed as the flirts had their kneecaps broken.

It happened quite a few times in this quest.

And because of this, those who want to sleep with her often approached the only person that Shen Yun actively spoke to and listened to: Vacio.

Since Vacio wasn't wearing his usual heavy armor and Hanya mask attire, they assumed that Vacio was your typical foreigner in the Dragon Empire: dirt poor, weak and desperate.

And thus Vacio's current predicament.

He was surrounded by 10 mercenaries who were 'negotiating' a nights worth of entertainment with Shen Yun.

Their employer, the merchant, turned a blind eye to Vacio's situation. It was the typical attitude of Dragon Empire natives to foreigners.

" _Why are there always people like this? Don't they know it's a death flag when you act like a douchebag?"_ –Vacio-

Vacio cleared his throat and spoke in a voice that was not so loud but was enough for everyone in the caravan to hear.

"Sadly, Shen Yun isn't that cheap. I'm going to have to up the price"-Vacio-

Annoying mercenary 1 was sort of pleased. In his mind, Vacio was trying to talk his way out of this predicament. With a sadistic grin, annoying mercenary 1 stood menacingly in front of a much smaller Vacio.

"Oh? What do you have in mind?"-annoying mercenary 1-

"If all 10 of you kill yourself right now, I'll allow Shen Yun to step on your face. How about it? Pretty sweet deal right?" –Vacio-

Naturally, the mercenaries were not pleased

"Oi. Do you not understand the situation you're in?"-annoying mercenary 1-

One by one, the mercenaries drew their weapons. They clearly meant to use them.

At the same time, the civilians moved away from Vacio's group.

"Of course I understand. A bunch of weaklings want to act tough by intimidating a kid into giving up his prized possession. It's quite pathetic that you need 10 adult males to-"-Vacio-

One of the mercenaries suddenly stabbed Vacio in the back.

"HAHAHAHA! Eat that you foreign rat! You should have just agreed to what we want! Now you're dead!" –annoying mercenary backstabber-

While the mercenaries laughed their ass off, the civilians also agreed with the mercenaries. Foreigners should silently bend to their will if they want to live.

Naturally, Vacio wasn't going to take it lying down.

"*sigh*… This is what I meant by weaklings acting tough. I'm wearing some fairly low grade leather armor. Why in god's name can't you pierce through it?"-Vacio-

True enough, while the sword was stabbed into Vacio's back, it didn't puncture his leather armor.

Naturally, Vacio lied about his leather armor. This was the same leather armor that he often wore under his heavy armor. Though unassuming, Vacio used the best materials he could find and upgraded it to the best of his abilities.

No way a bunch of low lives could hope to damage it.

Of course, they didn't need to know that.

"Well then, it's my turn"-Vacio-

Before the annoying mercenaries could recover from the shock, Vacio made his move.

He grabbed his mace and bashed the backstabber right in the ribs. The feeling of bones breaking and lungs collapsing was clear indication that the backstabber was just as weak as Vacio thought.

Never the less, Vacio didn't dare to get cocky. Arrogance was the best way to get his ass kicked later on. It was better not to get into the habbit.

" **Lesser Stregnth** , **Shield Wall** "-Vacio-

Vacio quickly changed target and launched a strike on annoying mercenary 1.

However, while the mercenaries were weak, their battle scars were not for show.

Annoying mercenary 1 used his sword to block his opponent, but the sheer force of Vacio's blow broke the sword and shattered annoying mercenary 1's arm. The mercenary was able to avoid death by jumping back as far as he could.

At this point, the rest of the mercenaries recovered from shock and began moving like the professional sellswords that they were.

The mercenaries attacked in unison with every intention of turning Vacio into swiss cheese.

Naturally, Vacio fought with ferocity that matched his enemies' vigor.

The battle could described in 1 word: Inneligant.

Someone stabbed Vacio on his right rib. That person died as Vacio's mace crushed his skull in response.

Beforce Vacio could recover, one of the mooks on his left swung his sword down. Vacio blocked it with his left hand and launched a kick into his attacker's upper leg.

The beauty of the Trickster class was the multitudes of hidden weapons it had on its disposal. An example of these were the hidden blades in his boots. There was one in the heel and another one near his toes.

And thus, when Vacio kicked his attaker on the leg, the result was the hidden blade ripping the main artery appart. A massive gush of blood spewed from the attaker's leg.

The attacker tried to apply preasure on the wound, but Vacio didn't allow such action as he drew a dagger out of nowhere and stabbed it into the attacker's face.

Then, a rain of blows hammered Vacio from all sides.

Due to his build and the massive gap in level, item quality and passive defenses, Vacio was receiving ethier 1 or 0 damage from these fools. And even if he did received damage, his natural regeneration completely negated any of it.

Never the less, Vacio acted like he was struggling for the sake of appearance. It was also good practice for future conflicts with large number of opponents.

Vacio swung his mace in a wild yet surprisingly precise manner.

He swung low and felt a leg rend off from the sheer force. He didn't need to confirm the state of his target because the bastard was screaming in agony. It wont take long for him to die with that wound

Another sweeping strike resulted in a poor soul his pelvic bone as it was crushed into dust. Full body paralysis was a very real thing for this one.

And as expected of survivors of multiple battlefields, the 5 remaining mercenaries understood that they angered the wrong monster. Apologizing at this point was worthless and fighting to the bitter end was out of the question.

Thus, retreating was the only option.

However, before the mercenaries could even turn to retreat, one of the 5 remaining survivors was impaled by a halberd. On the other end of the halberd was Shen Yun who's calm smiling face was both beautiful and out of place.

Shen Yun raised the mercenary up then slammed the poor soul down, turning the once proud human into a bloody smudge in the ground.

"How mean of you Vacio. This was suppos to be a fun vacation date just for the two of us. You should always bring me with you when you have fun"-Shen Yun-

"Ha ha ha. Sorry about that. These guys wanted to violate you. Naturally, the very thought of doing that to my woman already warrants a fair bit of pain."-Vacio-

"I see… I guess it cant be helped"-Shen Yun-

A beautiful smile bloomed on the bashful Shen Yun's face. It was relatively amazing how graceful she looked despite being covered in blood.

"Well then, let's go and exterminate some pests!"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun's aura changed from a beautiful girl to a rabid beast. This was a clear sign of the activation of the Barbarian's Rage Skill.

With a gentle laughter, Shen Yun charges after 2 of the 4 remaining survivors.

This left Vacio with the annoying mercenary 1 and another that has ran quite a fair distance while Vacio and Shen Yun were talking.

Annoying mercenary 1 was moving in the same direction as the other mercenary, abliet in a slower pace. This gave Vacio a bit of leeway to play with.

" _I guess it's a good time to test THAT dagger."_ -Vacio-

He took out a dagger that was made of transparent blade. Though it was only a dagger of barebone basic design, it was quite beautiful to look at.

He took aim at the mercenary farthest to him and threw the dagger with all of his might.

The dagger traveled in a beautiful arc…. and missed the target completely. It hit the ground around 5 meters in front of the mercenary.

While this performance was quite pathetic for someone who used throwing daggers quite often, but Vacio was quite pleased of the result.

With a simple thought, Vacio suddenly disappeared from were he was standing and appeared exactly where the dagger landed.

This dagger was called the **Blink Dagger** , an item that could only be crafter by a level 8 Trickster.

Quite simply, it teleports the user to dagger once it was thrown. The good thing about it was a much greater range compared to teleportation and it didn't use any mana. As long as he could see the dagger, he could teleport to it no matter how far it was.

The main drawback of it was that it was a one use disposable item. It required quite a bit of materials, which ment it costs money. The materials themselves didn't come cheap either.

Because it was such a money and material intensive item, Vacio could only make 3 of it before his stock of mythril ran out.

Mythril was the Blink Dagger's primary ingredient and it doesn't come cheap in this world. Even Vacio's transmutation ability could only produce so little. That was already a given, seeing how this world was filled with subpar quality items.

Never the less, it was a very cool thing to have.

The mercenary in front was surprised of Vacio's sudden appearance. But before he could change direction or beg for his life, Vacio's mace blasted through his stomach, showering blood and gore all over the plains.

Annoying mercenary 1 fell on his butt out of fear.

"H-hold on! Wait a second! I-Im so-"-annoying mercenary 1-

" **Force Push** "-Vacio-

Annoying mercenary 1 was balsted off his feet and smashed into one of the carraiges of the convoy.

Vacio took out 2 normal throwing daggers and hurled it at annoying mercenary 1. The daggers embedded itself into the mercenary's kneecaps. It was quite entertaining to watch the mercenary forcing down a scream of pain.

Vacio took his time walking towards the mercenary.

The mercenary and pretty much every civilian who witnessed the onesided slaughter couldn't help but feel like they were a prey that could do nothing but wait for the predator to eat them.

In order to look like a manly badass, Vacio did his best to impersonate one of the most badass of all badassery: Darth Vader.

His walk was calm yet heavy.

His pace was that of someone taking a walk in the park.

He activated **Amplify Sound** ,one of the Bard's many social skill, to make his breathing be heard by everyone near him.

The dread his audience had in their face was priceless.

He was about to perform a speech he always wanted to do, but before he could do so, a hand hit him on the face. It didn't hurt because it was only a hand… a severed hand and nothing more

There was only 1 word to describe this bizarre situation

"….. Eww…."-Vacio-

Barely a millisecond later, other body parts along side the rain of blood began fallig all over the battlefield.

"What the…."-Vacio-

It wasn't just Vacio, but everyone in the vicinity couldn't help but be perplexed of this weird phenomenon.

However, the truth of the matter revealed itself barely a few seconds later.

"Vacio! Look at what I can suddenly do! It's amazing!"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun was dragging one of the mercenaries she chased earlier. It was a weird sight for a teenage girl to drag a full adult like it was nothing.

Both the mercenary's legs and his arms were broken so badly that they looked like pretsels. Shen Yun did have quite a mean streak.

"PLEASE HELP ME! STOP HER! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THAT! SOMEBODY! HELP ME!"-mercenary-

Based on the mercenary's desperate plea, Shen Yun's sudden power up was nothing anyone would want to experience.

Shen Yun looked at the mercenary for a couple of seconds, then closed her eyes. A few tense seconds of silence passed before she opened her eyes and threw an embarrassed smile at Vacio

"Ha ha ha… My **Living Bomb** skill failed. It's an amazing skill but I cant seem to get it to a 100% success ratio"-Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't help but gasp.

Living Bomb was a damage-over-time spell that caused the target to suffer horrendous pain before a nasty explosion. If the target died before the DoT finished its duration, the explosion would be much more powerful.

It was a relatively standard spell for 'evil' classes such as the Warlock and Necromancer classes.

However, why did Shen Yun have it?

She was of the Barbarian Class. There was no way she had access to such magic unless she cross classed.

However, Vacio never witnessed her use a scroll that contained such a spell. Shen Yun often kept Vacio informed on all the important thing she did even though Vacio never commanded her to do so.

…. Hold on…. Didn't she just say it was a "Skill"?

Before Vacio could make an inquiry, a piercing scream erupted from the mercenary.

"IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! I'LL DO ANYTHING, JUST MAKE IT STO-"-mercenary-

A muffled explosion erupted with the mercenary at ground zero. Blood, guts and gore splashed all over Vacio and Shen Yun due to their proximity to the blast.

"Hahahaha! Look at that Vacio! Isn't it amazing? … well I did fail 2 times, but it still amazing!"-Shen Yun-

"Hmm… To think you can use such an advance magic. I guess that's to be expected of the perfect woman"-Vacio-

Truth be told, Vacio was very disgusted by the Living Bomb skill. It's not like he found it unethical or anything, it's just that the rain of blood and gore was not very pleasant.

And besides, Vacio still needed to understand the reason why Shen Yun could use Living Bomb as a skill and not as a spell.

For now, he decided to wrap up this particular event and move on to the next one.

"Well then, let's deal with the last one."-Vacio-

Vacio and Shen Yun calmly turned to Annoying Mercenary 1.

Naturally, Annoying Mercenary 1 was scared shitless. In fact, he was so scared that he pissed his pants and even forgot to scream for help.

Vacio approached the poor soul with a smile.

"I'm a man of my word. After you die, I'll allow Shen Yun to step on you as promised earlier. Arent you glad? She's quite a looker and she'll step on you! Most people would pay for that honor, but you get to do it for free! Congratulations!"-Vacio-

The mercenary could only shake in fear as he cursed his luck.

How could he have known that these 2 kids were monstrosities?

He should have known after he saw the Sword Saint slaughtered 5 Ogres all by himself. And he was a kid no older than Vacio!

And because of this, the mercenary could only sunder in fear as death slowly approached him.

However, before Vacio could touch the mercenary, a fat man ran towards them. It was the merchant that owned the caravan.

"Please wait!"-merchant-

Naturally, Vacio stopped whatever he had planned to accommodate for the merchant. Though he didn't like the merchant, the man was his boss even if it's temporary.

"Yes?"-Vacio-

"Is it possible for you to spare the man? He has already paid for his offenses with the lives of his comrades. There's no need for further violence, right?"-merchant-

Despite being taller than Vacio, the merchant was shrinking beneath the younger one's glare.

"Really? He lusted after what is rightfuly mine and attacked me with the intent to kill. I think I have every right to desire his death. And unless you have an extremely good reason, that's exactly what will happen"-Vacio-

The merchant shrank back. Given the events that transpired, no one would fault Vacio for killing his opponent in the name of self defense.

However, the merchant persisted on defending this particular mercenary and Vacio found it very suspicious.

"While that is true, showing mercy would be the right thing. I'm sure he'll remember this in the future and will pay back your kindness in full"-merchant-

"Ha ha ha! Don't be stupid! He'll remember this alright and he'll find a way to pay be back without a doubt. He'll gather up as many of his friends and send them to kill me. Naturally, me and my woman will slaughter them all. Instead of going through all that crap, I'll take him out and save me the trouble… along all the potential loose threads…."-Vacio-

The merchant's face lost all color for some reason.

Vacio's statement was nothing more than a probe to see if the merchant had some unsavory relations with the mercenary. He wasnt expecting to get anything from such a quickly thought of jab, but he sure hell wasn't expecting the merchant to give away such an obvious sign.

What could this mean?

Was this a start of a chain quest that would yield the EXP he so much craved for?

With that in mind, Vacio decided to probe some more…. But Shen Yun's impatience got in the way.

A loud bang caused one of the carriages to tilt over slightly before gravity forced it back to its prior state.

The main culprit was Shen Yun as she used a Rage powered stomp to crush the mercenary's head into tomato paste.

"Hmph. Be happy that Vacio wanted me to step on you, you filthy pest. If it wasn't for his kindness, my weapon would have been shoved down your throat."-Shen Yun-

" _YOU CRAZY BITCH!"_ -Vacio-

That particular phrase has been popping up in Vacio's mind quite a lot recently. This was the proof of Shen Yun's mental instability and the many failed attemps of Vacio trying to fix her.

Let's leave that for now and address the situation at hand.

While he did want to kill the mercenary, extracting information was much more important. If this was a quest and Shen Yun just caused its cancelation, he'll have to find a way to punish her without making her disloyal.

What a pain.

Vacio turned to the merchant

"Oh my, it seems that the mercenary is dead. How unfortunate. But you're so adamant at defending that rapist thug…. Care to explain?"-Vacio-

"N-no… t-there's no such connection. W-well… let's pack up and and go!"-merchant-

Ah… he ran away….

But this cant be the end!

His precious EXP!

There's no way he'll let it get away!

For now, he decided to keep tabs on that merchant and probably find a way to get some info from the Illuminati on the merchant.

For now, Vacio could only sigh in frustration and move on with his life.

-:-

2 hours later

Flowing River City

The travel to the city was surprisingly uneventful.

Vacio thought that based on how many guards the merchant hired, the odds of them being ambushed by bandits would be high.

Yet despite this, not even a single monster crossed their path.

Then why so much security?

The thought that there was something extremely valuable within the caravan did cross Vacio's mind. If that was the case, then it would be understandable why the merchant hired so much muscle.

But what was it?

What was worth gathering an entire army of mercenaries and adventurers just to defend it?

These thoughts whirled in Vacio's brain as the wagon he was on slowly went towards its destination.

While he was in deep thought, a barrage of light kisses, the occasional lick and nibble pumbled his right cheek.

Shen Yun was currently sitting on his lap in a princess carry style. With her hands wrapped around his neck, Vacio had no room to dodge Shen Yun's excessive flirting

" _*sigh*… such a pretty girl yet she's one of the main sources of my high stress levels…. *sigh*"_ -Vacio-

The others that shared the wagon with Vacio and Shen Yun occasional threw jealous looks at them. However, they made sure to do it in a hidden manner. This was mostly out of fear of Vacio's overwhelming strength.

Vacio largely ignored their glares in the similar fashion that he let Shen Yun's excessive flirting go uncontested.

Truth be told, Vacio was having serious doubts of trying to 'fix' Shen Yun's behavior.

Why?

Because all his efforts was having the opposite effect! In fact, Shen Yun was becoming so much worse!

Mind you, Vacio's original goal when he interacted with Shen Yun was met.

He wanted an extremely loyal pawn with high intelligence and high combat capabilities, and Shen Yun passed these criteria with flying colors.

Lao Wing, an adamantine rank adventurer, was a welcome bonus to the Shen Yun package.

The problem was her ever twisting personality.

He never thought that taking up the Barbarian Class would cause her emotions to become so extreme. How could he have predicted a messily class to affect someone's mental processes?!

He cured her skin condition and repeatedly called her the perfect woman in order to give her confidence. What he didn't expect was that this made her extremely arrogant to anyone but Vacio and Lao Wing.

Just to be clear, her arrogance was that of a different sort. She has never claimed that she was above everyone else.

What she arrogantly claimed was that Vacio was above everyone else!

While she never said such thing in front of Vacio, Lao Wing witnessed a particular incident a couple of weeks ago that deeply disturbed him.

When he told Vacio this, Vacio became equally disturbed.

This happened a few days after Shen Yun got used to having half of her face exposed.

Shen Yun's previous deformity was well known through out Bastion City. Thus you could imagine the shock of the common people when they saw the familiar mummy girl with only half of her mask on. Apparently, she was so beautiful that people would stop and stare at her whenever she walked down the street.

While Vacio admitted that she was indeed quite a looker, he was used to seeing such beauties in the NPCs of Yggdrasil. Those graphic artists lived up to their name.

Anyways, moving on.

It happened when Xi Lua of the Heavenly Palm Sect (the 1st guy that Vacio destroyed in the tournament) decided to hit on Shen Yun in public.

Normally, Shen Yun would ignore Xi Lua's existence. Even as he threw shit at X (Vacio's persona), Shen Yun held her rage in and moved on without even giving Xi Lua a glance.

However, when Xi Lua tried to place his hand over Shen Yun's shoulders, shit hit the fan hard.

Everyone probably thought that Shen Yun was still a weakling. What they didn't know was that Shen Yun's level skyrocketed to level 13 thanks to her participation in the slaying of Man Eater.

Imagine everyone's surprise when Shen Yun floored Xi Lua with a single Rage powered punch.

Xi Lua was a typical martial artist that had quite a bit of speed, non existent armor and relatively subs par endurance.

It was easy to imagine what would happen if an offensive specialist like Shen Yun threw her strongest punch at him.

Then in a loud voice and in front of everyone in the street, she declared…

"I am the most beautiful woman in the world! My face, knowledge, manners and fighting style is perfect because X made it so! How dare you even think that your filthy and ugly hands are worthy to touch my flawless skin! Only X is worthy to touch everything in my body! But if you so desire, fine! I'll allow my flawless fists to connect with your face as I teach you what it means to touch the most beautiful woman in the world with your unworthy self!"-Shen Yun-

She then proceded to beat Xi Lua and 2 of his cronies silly before Lao Wing stepped in to stop her.

Shen Yun often wore the toughest of Vacio's handmade armor underneath her clothes. This armor set often received upgrades whenever Vacio leveled up.

With such high levels of protection, Shen Yun easily outlasted Heavenly Palm Sect disciples in an undisciplined fist fight.

However, that wasn't the point of the story.

The thing to take away from this tale was how absurdly high Shen Yun viewed Vacio. To her, she became perfect because Vacio made her as such. This ment that if she was the most perfect woman in existence, then Vacio was even more perfect.

Vacio could do no wrong because how could he?

Vacio was always correct and Shen Yun fiercely believed this.

This distorted view of him terrified Vacio to no end.

What terrified Vacio wasn't Shen Yun's over glorified view of him (it still was extremely uncomfortable to be viewed as such), but the very fact that this deranged fanaticism was a direct result of Vacio's efforts of trying to fix her personality.

Should he keep trying to help her?

What if he made her worse?

But if he didn't help mend her personality, she'll remain her deranged self!

However, his past efforts obviously made her worse!

But doing nothing often resulted with nothing!

This cycle of 'to help or not to help' has been the main source of Vacio's high stress levels.

The second contributor of Vacio's stress level was still related to Shen Yun. To be specific, Shen Yun's excessive flirting.

Despite being reverted into a young teenager, Vacio was still very much a man.

As a man, he had urges.

With such a pretty girl like Shen Yun throwing herself at him, Vacio was fighting a loosing battle against his lust.

What was stopping him from pushing Shen Yun down and violating her with reckless abadon?

Pregnancy.

If Shen Yun got pregnant, her ability to fight would disappear for the entire duration of her pregnancy.

This was extremely bad because Vacio's status as a foreigner and a member of the Illuminati would most certainly result in making a large of enemies.

If Shen Yun got pregnant during that time, not only would Vacio lose his most powerful attack dog, he would also be shackled with the constant worry for the girl's health and well being.

While Vacio had great distrust for pretty women due to his past divorce, he wasn't a scumbag who would abandon a faithful wife and an unborn child.

And thus, he did his best to keep his Excalibur from Shen Yun's Avalon until he had enough military strength to keep her safe.

However, his determination was on its last legs from Shen Yun's constant attack.

Vacio understood himself quite well.

And because of this, he knew that he had already lost the battle against lust.

While he still could endure small levels of flirting such as Shen Yun's constant kissing, he would not be able to resist if something major happened.

For now, he decided to focus on other things in order to keep his mind away from Shen Yun's constant sexual harassment.

After the caravan loaded up and proceeded witht the journey, Vacio used his In-Depth Analysis skill on Shen Yun and boy was he surprised.

Shen Yun's level after the Man Eater boss battle was 13. Since then, her leveling speed slowed down to a crawl. During the last 4 months, despite being on Vacio's party whenever he went out for subjugation missions, Shen Yun did not level up at all.

It seemed that she was at the point that she needed to perform this 'cultivation' thing that martial artist do all the time.

Much to his surprise, she did gain a level and took up the'Queen of Pain' class. This was a class Vacio has never heard of before.

Based on Shen Yun's explanation, the Queen of Pain was a melee oriented class that specialized in DoT (Damage over Time) skills. Quite a good fit for the Barbarian class because you can never go wrong with more damage.

Living Bomb half of its damage as DoT and the other half as an Explosion. It was a fairly decent spell and was relatively effective in large scale conflicts.

The main drawback of it in Yggdrasil was it often failed to infect the enemy half of the time because the enemy often had a fair bit of magic resistance.

Personally, Vacio's versi-tank bard very rarely (almost never) experienced the Living Bomb due to the build's extremely high defensive stats.

This was probably the main reason why Shen Yun needed more than 1 try to make the Living Bomb work.

However, that doesn't really answer the question how or why Shen Yun suddenly received the class.

Yet another mystery that Vacio may never understand.

Vacio and Shen Yun's role as caravan guards ended when the caravan parked outside the merchants guild.

After getting paid, the 2 went sight seeing as they made for their next destination.

Flowing River City was large compared to Bastion City.

Bastion City looked large because it was situated on 4 mountains, but in reality, it was a bunch of smaller town and villages distributed among those mountains. If you combinded the total land area of those towns and vilages, it was relatively small compared to the other massive cities of the Dragon Empire.

Flowing River City, however, was a bona fide massive city that was rich in every sense of the word. Houses, shops and other man made contraptions as far as the eye could see with people every step of the way.

Shen Yun wanted to buy something for their little Bat Cave back in Bastion City, but Vacio had to dissuade her. They still had a job to do.

An hour later, they reached a massive mansion in the middle of the city.

This was the City Lord's mansion, home to the most influential person in Flowing River City.

They were greated like honored guests and was given the best room in the house.

Room service was quite good and the books that their library had made Shen Yun drool.

This level of preferential treatment actually made Vacio very suspicious. The City Lord was one of the extremely few people in this city that knew that Vacio was of the Illuminati.

Being overly generous to a foreigner for everyone can see was not the normal way the citizens of the Dragon Empire behaved. They normally tried to keep their relations with foreigners as hidden as possible.

Something was off….

-:-

Dinner Time

Vacio and Shen Yun's meal was served directly in their room. The food was bountiful and looked Facebook worthy.

After they enjoyed the meal, the main cause of Vacio's uneasiness finally entered the stage.

He was a big man with a big tummy but by no means anyone could call him fat. His arms were as thick as tree trunks and as solid as rock. His large build coupled by his thick mustache made him look like a man amoungst men.

This was Qing Ho, the City Lord of Flowing Rivers City.

He sat in front of Vacio and Shen Yun with a scanning eye.

"Did you enjoy your meal?"-Qing Ho-

"It was delicious. Send my compliments to the cooks. They deserve all the praise imaginable"-Vacio-

"HAHAHAHA! Thank you very much for the praise! In truth, my 3rd wife was the main cook for this meal. She'll be pleased to know that a member of the Illuminati sang her praises."-Qing Ho-

"What can I say, good food is what we mortals live for"-Vacio-

"So true. By the way, how does your young lady wife find the books of our library?"-Qing Ho-

Shen Yun didn't respond to Qing Ho's question as she read the book she borrowed with extreme focus.

"Ha ha ha. Sorry about that. She's a bibliomaniac at heart. She'd read for days on end if I don't don't pry the book off her hand."-Vacio-

"Oh no no. My younger brother is like that. Some people thirst for knowledge is just that great. Why I remember-"-Qing Ho-

"I do apologize for my interruption City Lord, but as much as I do enjoy a good banter, I would like to get to the point. What do you want?"-Vacio-

Qing Ho's face twitched at Vacio's rudeness. However, he could do nothing but swallow his pride. He knew very well that most foreigners found the Dragon Empire's 'befriending methods' to be shallow and extremely annoying.

To foreigners, the Imperial's way of befriending someone was equivalent bribery and ass kissing.

Naturally, Qing Ho found Vacio's straight forwardness as rude. Chalk it up to cultural difference. This was why he didn't let his annoyance show.

And besides, Qing Ho was the beggar in this conversation. He needed the help of the Illuminati and he needed it badly. The opponent he was up against was someone who couldn't be taken down by mere martial feat.

With that in mind, Qing Ho swallowed his pride and went straight to the point.

"Straight to the point then. I would like to request you to stay for a few days here in the City Lord's mansion. This is in order to protect an extremely valuable medicinal ingredient from being stolen"-Qing Ho-

"Hmm…. From the way you said it, you know who the thieves are and when they are going to attack."-Vacio-

In response to Vacio's inquery, Qing Ho facepalmed and massaged his forehead. The situation seemed to be much more complex than initially thought.

"Yes. The thieves are none other than the Sword Saint and his harem/party. I assume that some of the people in my mansion are in cahoots with the Sword Saint"-Qing Ho-

Vacio hid his confusion the best he could. Because the Illuminati threw quests after quests at him, they may have forgotten to give Vacio a detailed list of important personalities he needed to watch out for.

Mind you, Vacio wasn't complaining about the quests. He desired EXP more than anything right now.

He did receive a bare bone basics list of VIPs, thus he knew of the Sword Saint.

Aside from the title, he knew little else.

He could ask Qing Ho for info, but the man rubbed Vacio the wrong way for some reason. Being in the debt of the City Lord felt extremely unpleasant.

Though this could be just Vacio's imagination and he could be wrong.

Never the less, he decided to trust his gutt and hide his cluelessness.

"I don't mind protecting your precious ingredient, but you have to answer my questions truthfully. If I spot a hint of lying, then the deal is off. For your information, I have a magic that can tell if you're lying, so be careful"-Vacio-

Qing Ho gulped at Vacio's words and simply nodded

FYI: Vacio was lying… sort of.

He didn't have such a convenient spell, but he did have the 'Detect Heartbeat' skill of the Bard. While he cant accurately tell if the person is lying or not, he could make an educated guess based on the heart rate.

"Tell me what you know of the Sword Saint's goal. What is the ingredient he is after and why is he after it"-Vacio-

Qing Ho took a deep breath then began talking.

"The Sword Saint's party is after the Deathweave Orchid, a rare ingredient that was said to dispel any poison. Based on my informants, the Sword Saint is doing this in order to help a beautiful princess who was afflicted with a poison that could not be healed by even the best elixirs…. For all his power, the Sword Saint is a fool that only thinks with his cock."-Qing Ho-

Vacio hid his delight.

As someone of the Alchemist Class, he knew very well that the Elixir wasn't omnipotent. There were quite a lot of concoctions that can cure negative status effects that elixir had no hope of curing.

If he played his cards right and help this so called 'princess', he could enter a chain quest that would net him a lot of EXP!

With that in mind, he made a mental note to steal that quest away from the Sword Saint.

"That pretty much covers up most of what I needed to know. On to the last set of questions. When will they attack and who are the possible traitors in your camp."-Vacio-

Once again, Qing Ho made a heavy sigh as he answered.

"Based on what I know, the poison is slow acting, thus the princess has some time to spare. However, the time frame given to her by the healers that tried to treated her was 2 weeks. That was 3 days ago. I assume that they'll attack in the next few days. When exactly, I am unsure."-Qing Ho-

"I understand. And the traitors?"-Vacio-

Qing Ho made a pained face before answering.

"I-it's my daughter, Qing Yue. I assume she was seduced by the Sword Saint at some point."-Qing Ho-

"I see… Torturing for information is out of the question then."-Vacio-

Qing Ho couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He was dreading what Vacio would do to his daughter, but fortunately the Illuminati member was reasonable.

"Very well, I'll help you and your little thief problem. Now that we're done with that, it's time we discussed my reward"-Vacio-

Qing Ho's face twitched ever so slightly.

Naturally, he expected that the Illuminati agent had no reason to do this favor out of the goodness of his heart. Rewarding the Illumanti's efforts was already given.

Qing Ho wanted to make friendly connections with the order of monsters. Having them as allies would help him in the long run.

However, Qing Ho knew very well that the Illuminati had a negative view of the Dragon Empire's form of 'making friends'. Illuminati members viewed each interaction with the Dragon Empire resisdents as a 'one time transaction' and not a 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' sort of affair. This was a testament how much they distrusted the Dragon Empire.

For now, Qing Ho decided to test the waters.

"Of course, you will be properly compensated. Be it in gold, cultivation techniques, riches, women or whatever. Name your price"-Qing Ho-

"What I want is land. More specifically, I want enough land to set up a business."-Vacio-

"Huh? Are you planning to become a merchant?"-Qing Ho-

"Armies march on their stomach and food costs money. It's natural that I want money, but I want a sustainable source of income. Not a 1 time deal. Hence, my desire for a shop to do business in"-Vacio-

Vacio was briefed on the general plan of the Illuminati in the Dragon Empire.

As much as possible, they wanted an outpost in every city through out the empire. Preferably, they wanted each branch to be incognito while being productive.

Their main base was in Bastion City, and sadly, it was highly unproductive. While it did serve as a secret hideout and a solid fort, it did not fill generate any money.

And thus, setting up business was a must.

Flowing Rivers City was one of the cities they had no shops, thus Vacio made use of this opportunity to grab some land.

"I-I see…. Can you give me some details?"-Qing Ho-

"Fu fu fu. Don't worry. It's nothing unreasonable."-Vacio-

After that, the first wave of negotiations began between Flowing Rivers City and the Illuminati.

-:-

Midnight of the same day.

Vacio woke up in the middle of the night in order to unleash the wrath of god bubbling within his stomach. He went to the restroom and unleashed the Kraken in all of its putrid glory

He wasn't sure what he ate, but it was wreaking havoc on his bowel.

One of the toughest builds in Yggdrasil brought down by loose bowel movement.

How humiliating.

As Vacio walked back to the room he and Shen Yun were sharing, a small but rushed movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention.

He wasn't entirely sure what it was but his cautious nature compeled him to investigate. He pressed himself onto one of the pillars and activated a skill.

" **Amplify Hearing** "-Vacio-

The Amplify Hearing was one of the Bards many social skills used for evesdroping.

It wasn't useful when there's a lot of people because the noise would generated by a large group was enough to cause the skill user some fairly severe headaches.

On the other hand, it was a perfect skill when trying to spy on a hushed environment.

Based on what he could hear, there were 6 people, 5 of them were female and 1 male. Judging from the pitch of the voices, they were as old as Vacio's current body. In short, they were young people in their mid teens.

Vacio focused on the content of their speech.

"I'm really sorry for dragging you into this mess Qing Yue. I promise I'll make up for it somehow."-Male-

"Fu fu fu. Don't worry about it. If it's for my beloved Sword Saint, I would jump head first into the pits of hell."-Qing Yue-

"Don't get cocky! 'Your' beloved Sword Saint?! Who said that you can take him?! He's mine!"-Girl 1-

"Ha ha ha ha…"-Male-

Vacio was shocked.

Really?!

The Sword Saint and his harem were already here?!

That was way too fast! Vacio wasn't prepared at all!

Vacio wasn't complacent. In reality, it was the Sword Saint's group that was extremely reckless.

The 'princess' the Sword Saint was trying to save was located in a town about 3 days travel from Flowing Rivers City. It was possible to cut the traveling time into two and one fourth days if the traveler quickened their pace to the very limit.

And since the Sword Saint was already here, it meant that they traveled as fast as they could and decided to attack after resting.

How reckless!

Half a day was nowhere near enough to scout out the area for potential threats that they could avoid.

While Qing Yue provided valuable inside info, attacking without giving enough time to verify the info was complete and utter madness.

On the flip side, the Sword Saint's group also made the right decision.

If the came 24 hours later, Vacio would have been able to prepare traps and other counter measures against them.

" _*sigh*… I guess I better do my job…"_ -Vacio-

" **Message:** Shen Yun! Wake up! Oi!"-Vacio-

"~hmm?... Vacio?... Where are you? *Yawn*"-Shen Yun-

"I'm by the main hall of the mansion. The Sword Saint's group are here. Arm yourself with the best armor and is 7 people, one of them is the City Lord's daughter. I cant see what she looks like due to the darkness, so avoid killing anyone. Hurt them but don't leave them with irrepairable injuries. Got it?"-Vacio-

"~Okies~"-Shen Yun-

Vacio couldn't help but feel nervous. Based on the way she talked, Shen Yun was obviously still half asleep. He'll just have to pray that she doesn't accidentally kill anyone.

He quickly accessed his inventory and equipped his best armors and weapons. His silver heavy plate armor that covered thick black leather armor was quite imposing to look at.

While all of his armors looked exactly the same as the ones he wore in the tournament, his armaments were heavily upgraded. They were much stronger and tougher compared to their original stats.

He decided against wearing his Hanya mask because it hindered his vision. Normally he would be fine with such level of hindrance, but it was much harder for him to see at night. He wasn't going to handicap himself at this point in time.

" _Hmm… maybe I should consider an image change. Seeing how my next class is 'Holy-ish' in nature, I think a more knightly design would suite me best"-_ Vacio-

He stepped out of his cover and calmly walked towards the intruders.

His heavy steps and the clanking of his armor caused the Sword Saint's group to hide themselves. They didn't move from their spot and was obviously hoping that Vacio would walk past them.

And Vacio did just that.

" **Activate Song: Guardian's Hymn, Divine Shield, Bark Skin, Reinforce Armor, Lesser Strength"** -Vacio-

Just as the Sword Saint's group breathe a sigh of relief, Vacio threw 2 bombs at them.

One of the bombs was a Tear Gas Bomb. This exploded right on top of the Sword Saint's group, thus enveloping them in a high irritant cloud. Naturally, the group found it quite displeasing.

The other bomb landed very very far from the Sword Saint's group. The explosion was that of a loud screeching sound that echoed through out the mansion. This was a Psionic Bomb that caused sound damage to all those caught up in it.

Vacio threw it as far as he could from the Sword Saint's group because of 2 reasons.

First, he wanted to use its loud bang to alert the City Lord mansion's guard.

Second, the Psionic Bomb was currently the strongest bomb in his arsenal. It was so strong that the outlayer of an extremely thick pillar near its ground zero was ripped off.

If that hit the City Lord's daughter, all of her insides would turn to mush.

Since he wasn't sure who Qing Yue was among the Sword Saint's group, he had to play safe.

Unable to see or breathe within the could, the group dispersed in a disorderly manner.

The second Vacio spotted the only male in the group, he charged at him with the intention of running him over.

As expected of someone with so much hype around him, the Sword Saint was quick to react.

Sword Saint nimbly dodge Vacio then quickly launched a counter attack.

Vacio was able to block one attack with his mace but the second attack hit him in the chest. Fortunately, his plate armor absorbed most of the force, leaving him with very little damage.

Noticing this, Sword Saint widened the gap.

The 2 stared at each other with surprise plastered all over their face.

Vacio analyzed the Sword Saint.

Sword Saint was a slim looking guy with black hair and a general look that could easily be mistaken as a girl.

Quite simply, Sword Saint was a Kirito clone. He even sported a black long coat!

True to his copyright infrigment look, Sword Saint was dual wielding one handed swords

However, unlike Kirito, the blades that the Sword Saint carried was something Vacio didn't expect to see in this Chinesse themed fantasy world: A Katana.

If Vacio was correct about KiriClone, the dual blade swordsman was shocked to see a European heavy plate in this Chinesse themed world.

"Are you-"-KiriClone-

Vacio interrupted KiriClone by rushing straight at him.

Once again, KiriClone easily dodge Vacio's attack and immediately countered with a flurry of sword slashes.

Unfortunately for KiriClone, Vacio was ready this time around.

Vacio parried one of KiriClone slashes, causing the samurai to be off balanced for a millisecond. Using this opening, Vacio used one of the Trickster class most under appreciated skill.

Vacio stabbed his left hand into KiriClone gutt. Because of the pointy fingers of the gauntlet, Vacio's finger thrust was much damaging than it seemed.

KiriClone winched in pain and quickly jumped back in order to widen the gap once again.

This was the Trickster's **Cheap Shot** skill. This skill greatly increased the damage done by unconventional attacks with unconventional weapons such as hidden blades.

Sadly, Vacio's low offensive stats heavily dimished the damage potential of Cheap Shot.

Never the less, it was a good means to sneak in additional DPS.

Suddenly, one of Kiriclone's haremites rushed towards Vacio.

"Makoto! I'm here to help!"-Girl 1-

Girl 1 thrusted her straight sword at Vacio's unprotected head.

Vacio parried it with his left gauntlet and bashed Girl 1 in the kneecap. The sound of bones breaking was quite painful to hear

Girl 1 screamed in pain as she fell face first into the floor.

"Lu Ri! You bastard, I'll kill you for hurting her!"-KiriClone-

KiriClone lunged at Vacio with extreme ferocity.

Vacio could help but smile at how easy it was to manipulate KiriClone.

Vacio's below average speed and lackluster DPS made him bad at , this weakness was greatly reduced when the enemies were the ones attacking Vacio.

When fighting defensively, Vacio was king.

" **Avalance Slash!** "-KiriClone

KiriClone activated a skill and swung both of his Katanas down at Vacio.

The force was so strong that the ground underneath the blocking Vacio was destroyed.

Once again, Vacio sunk his fingers into KiriClone's gutt and quickly followed it with….

" **Force Push!** "-Vacio-

KiriClone flew and smashed into a massive pillar nearby

As if waiting for KiriClone to get to safety…

" **Fire Blast!** "-Girl 2-

An explosion swallowed Vacio and everything within 3 meters of him.

The girl's were elated at their accomplishement of taking Vacio down, but soon realized that their celebration was premature.

Vacio charged through the flames and made a beeline towards the mage girl.

"I wont let you!"-Girl 3-

An arrow bounced off Vacio's leg armor. It seemed that girl 3 was an Archer.

"His armor is too thick!"-Girl 3-

While Girl 3 was able to hit the gaps in Vacio's leg armor, the heavy leather armor underneath the plates didn't allow any arrow to touch Vacio's skin.

"Damn you!"-Girl 1-

Once again, the swordswoman attacked Vacio from the side.

" _What the? Didn't I just break your leg?!"_ -Vacio-

And once again, Vacio blocked her strike while countering at the same time. This time, Vacio grabbed Girl 1's sword and bashed the other leg with his mace.

Once again, Girl 1 screamed in pain.

" **Light Healing!** "-Girl 4-

" _So that's how she got back up so quickly. They had a healer. What a pain."_ -Vacio-

" **Shockwave Blast!** "-KiriClone-

Vacio was blown to the side as an invisible force slammed into him.

Vacio corrected his posture and quickly readied himself.

" **Blitzkrieg Stream!** "-KiriClone-

A rain of slashes and stabs hammered Vacio.

However, Vacio was more than used to such types of attacks. While he couldn't negate all of the strikes, he was able to dodge, parry and block most of it.

At the same time, he snuck in 3 cheap shots into KiriClone's gutt, left hand and ribs.

" **Force Push!** "-Vacio-

KiriClone was balsted back into the arms of his harem.

" _Ha ha ha… I'm in a bit of a pinch."_ -Vacio-

True to his tank build, Vacio was soaking up damage like a dead cow. Even with this, he was still very far from falling.

However, being outnumbered was no laughing matter.

The haremintes were weak as expected, so they were nothing more than annoyances.

However, KiriClone was a bona fide speed fighter. His hits were fairly weak but the sheer volumes of strikes added up very quickly.

" _Well then, let's play you fools some more."_ -Vacio-

Vacio calmly walked forward while he performed the 'Bring it on!' gesture.

And just as expected, KiriClone and his harem took the bait.

KiriClone charged at Vacio and engaged him in a weapon lock.

"Hahahaha! You're a bigger fool than I thought!"-Vacio-

"What are you talking about?!"-KiriClone

Quite suddenly, screams could be heard from behind KiriClone.

While the group had their eyes focused on Vacio, Shen Yun successfully flanked the girls.

She took out the Archer girl first by bashing her on the ribs with the shaft of her halberd.

She quickly moved to the Healer girl and thrusted the butt of her halberd into the girl's gutt.

Shen Yun then launched herself at the mage girl.

The mage girl launched a firebolt at Shen Yun.

Shen Yun took the damage and immidietly closed the distance.

The mage girl tried to run away but Shen Yun's beastial speed easily caught up with her.

Shen Yun got behind mage girl and used her halberd to choke her victim.

"Unless you want your mage friend to have her neck crushed, you will all lay your arms on the floor!"-Shen Yun-

Seeing this, KiriClone immediately abandoned his blade lock with Vacio in order to save his haremites.

A foolish move.

Before KiriClone could get very far….

" **Force Choke!** "-Vacio-

KiriClone was lifted off the floor by an invisible force.

Vacio then slammed KiriClone into a nearby pillar.

As KiriClone bounced off from the impact, Vacio followed through.

" **Force Push!** "-Vacio-

KiriClone was blown back and crashed painfully into the ground.

Vacio calmly walked towards KiriClone

"Stay down Sword Saint. I really rather not hurt you more than this."-Vacio-

While Vacio's speech was delievered in an arrogant manner, it was actually more like 'Please don't get up!' sort of plea.

While Vacio could easily fight KiriClone all day, Vacio was experiencing some fairly uncomfortable bowel movements and the desire to run for the toilet was growing with each passing second.

Unfortunately, KiriClone was those 'Guts!' type of person.

"I will not give up! As long as I have my friends with me, we will win!"-KiriClone-

" _DON'T PULL THAT POWER OF FRIENDSHIP CRAP HERE! The rear gates of Troy is about to be breached damn it!"_ -Vacio-

Fortunately for Vacio, the large number of footsteps approaching their location marked his salvation.

Qing Ho along with hundreds of armed guards surrounded the scene.

"Sword Saint Makoto! You WILL stand down! As long as you are in my domain, you will follow my orders!"-Qing Ho-

KiriClone shrinked backed at the sight of Qing Ho.

"B-but City Lord! The princess-"-KiriClone-

"SHUT UP! You trespassed into my home, destroyed my property, attempted to steal my belongings and even attempted to kill one of my esteemed guests who was only protecting my home from thieves?! Who do you think is the bad guy in this scenario?!"-Qing Ho-

Qing Ho turned to Vacio and bowed low.

"I truly apologize for this inconvenience my lord. I know this is too much for me to ask but can you please let them go for now?"-Qing Ho-

Vacio noded to Shen Yun whom then released her captive from the choke hold.

Vacio turned around in a cool manner and walked away.

"Normally, I would have them tortured for interrupting my sleep, but I'll let it slide at your request. Qing Ho, we shall speak of their punishment tomorrow."-Vacio-

"Thank you my lord"-Qing Ho-

The City Lord bowing low to a child less than half his age was a sign of weakness. However, none of those present laughed at him even in their heads.

To be able to fight toe to toe and win against the Sword Saint was a feat worthy not only of respect but also fear.

When Vacio and Shen Yun were out of everyone's view, Vacio sprinted to the potty.

A few seconds later…. Relief…

-:-

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 **Just search Ginobi47 and you'll find me there**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

False Messiah

-:-

The Following Day

Morning

"You have got to be SHITTING ME!"-Vacio-

Maybe it was just his advanced age, but Vacio has noticed that he has become increasingly grouchy as of late.

While his body was that of a youth that has just stepped into his 14 year of age, his mind was that of a man that was just past his twilight years.

Due to his body's age, he was pretty sure that his foul mood was not attributed to blood sugar or high blood pressure.

His relatively low tolerance to anything was probably attributed to the upset stomach he has been experiencing since yesterday. After his run in with KiriClone and his pussy brigade, Vacio has been in and out of the 'throne room' at least 3 times.

The intense bowel movement has died down a fair bit….. but it started again after he ate breakfast.

Since Shen Yun seemed to be completely fine, Vacio was starting to think that he was just a bad fit for the food in this place.

He decided to run some tests on the food later on. Whatever was causing him this inconvenience was doing a phenominal job of fouling his mood.

However, a fairly severe stomach ache was very small compared to the real reason why Vacio was so furious.

In front of him was a familiar that was nothing more than a dark floating whisp. From the whisp, the childish voice of Malika could be heard.

"There's no need to raise your voice Vacio. We can talk like civilized individuals here."-Malika-

"Civilized people MY ASS! Do you understand what you're telling me to do?!"-Vacio-

"I understand it perfectly well. You are to steal away Qing Yue from Sword Saint Makoto's harem. The more girls you steal away from him, the better."-Malika-

At the point, Vacio's temper became as chaotic as his bowel movement.

"HOW IS THAT CIVILIZED?! STEALING SOMEONE'S LOVER IS NO WHERE NEAR THE CONCEPT OF THE WORD CIVILIZED! THAT IS WHAT SCUM DO!"-Vacio-

Vacio was very salty on the whole stealing someone elses lover. He experienced it himself after all.

Mind you, he doesn't particularly care of the cheating part. How they ruin their lives is their business.

What he was angry about was the idea that the extras that would be stolen by said lover once she's stolen. Money, secrets, personal information, pretty much anything that she brought with her was would deeply hurt the person she left.

Oh, just to be clear, Vacio has a very poor view of love.

To Vacio, love was nothing more than a series of chemical reaction used to propagate a species. The moment those chemicals wore off, that's when the superficial emotions would be put to the test.

What Vacio valued more than anthing was 'Loyalty'.

To have a person who can watch your back. A person that would be with you through thick and thin. A person whom you can 'Trust'.

And the very idea that Vacio was the one who was going to destroy someone's trust to another sickened him to his bones.

Not to mention he was going to steal who knows what wealth of information and knowledge KiriClone had. That fact was the one that he despised the most.

"*sigh*…. I knew you wont like it…. But I rather choose this disgusting method than the alternative"-Malika-

"~Oh? What's this oh so terrible alternative of yours?"-Vacio-

Vacio's sarcasm caused Malika to pause for a bit. About 5 seconds later, she talked.

"Blackmail, murder, poisoning, assassination, enslavement and even war. The alternative is to make a mountain of corpses in order to beat our enemies into submission. Lots of innocent people will be dragged into a senseless slaughter…. thus the reason why the Illuminati leadership is pushing for this disgusting plan"-Malika-

Vacio calmed down upon hearing that.

After joining the Illuminati, Vacio was able to access some interesting information on the boogeyman organization of this fantasy world.

First and foremost, a fairly large number of the Illuminati membership was of the Heteromorphic race. This meant that they were automatically viewed as the enemies of mankind due to their monstrous appearance.

More often than not, negotiation was impossible right from the get go.

Logically speaking, the whole 'stealing another man's lover' led to the most ideal results.

Very little collateral damage

No need to sacrifice large number of lives

Extremely small investment in terms of resources.

The only real downside of this plan was the disgust Vacio would experience.

However, Vacio had this thing called 'Old Man Wisdom' which came from years of experience in the shitty world. The painful truth of Old Man Wisdom was that his core belief ment absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things.

As much as he wanted to stand with his own personal values, the Illuminati doesn't care about his feelings. As long as he needed the Illuminati more than the Illuminati needed him, all of his misgivings were irrelevant.

If he resisted too much, the Illuminati could easily destroy him and replace him with someone else.

Employees were only useful if they fulfilled the roles that were assigned to them. If not, then they were branded as liabilities to the company and were removed as quickly as possible.

It was a painful pill to swallow, but this small wisdom was something everyone was forced to learn when they enter the work force.

In short: As long as you need the company's money, you don't matter.

With logic and Old Man Wisdom swirling in his brain, Vacio shoved all of his complaints down his throat.

"*sigh*… fine… I'm in. But I do hope that the Illuminati is going to support me on this one. I'm no Casanova after all."-Vacio-

On que, the floating whisp ejected a decently sized document.

"This everything we know about your target and other potential annoyances. Browse the document at your leasure. I'll join you in the field if the need arises. Use your message spell if you believe back up is required"-Malika-

"Will do."-Vacio-

The black mist disappeared like the morning haze.

Vacio turned his attention to the documents and was impressed how organized it was. The first page was filled with an easy to understand diagram of Qing Yue's connections. The second page was similar to the first page though it was centered on the Sword Saint KiriClone.

The next few pages were the personal quirks of Qing Yue and some suggestions on how to make use of them.

The last few pages after that were about the main cause of why KiriClone and his harem was trying to steal the Deathweave Orchid.

It contained the location of where the 'princess' hiding and the circumstances as to how KiriClone came to know of her plight.

It took Vacio about an hour to read through all of it and there were an important bit of information that he found very annoying.

Qing Ho's traitors.

Quite simply, there were a lot of them. It seemed that KiriClone and Qing Yue had enough charisma to garner wide spread support.

On the other hand, Qing Ho was viewed less favorable than the two. Mind you, everyone respected Qing Ho, but the masses idolized KiriClone at the same level as Justin Beiber to his die hard fans. Qing Yue rode KiriClone's popularity due to her close ties with him.

Hunting down all of the traitors was counter productive. They were simply too many and most of them held no threat to him directly or indirectly.

However, there were 2 particular people on the list that did try to harm Vacio in some form or the other.

These 2 were going to be the target for all of his frustrations.

"Shen Yun, do you remember that merchant guy that hired us yesterday?"-Vacio-

"Yes I do my lord. Is there something noteworthy about him?"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun, who was insipired by the maids in the mansion, stood faithfully beside Vacio. It seemed that she enjoyed role playing as a maid way too much.

"Will you please stop calling me 'my lord' or 'master'? I'm not your employer you know."-Vacio-

"As you wish master"-Shen Yun-

"….. You're going to keep calling me master until I cave in…. is that your plan?"-Vacio-

"I would never do something so rash as to force my beloved master to do what he doesn't want."-Shen Yun-

While she delivered that line with a very radient smile, it was easy to tell that she was thinking 'Shut up and let me do as I want!'.

Vacio massaged his head in annoyance. It seemed that Shen Yun had no intention of stopping any time soon. All he could hope was that she would eventually grow bored with it all.

"Tch. Fine, whatever. Anyways, can you get that merchant guy to come here without anyone knowing about it?"-Vacio-

Shen Yun thought for a bit.

"I could do that, but wouldn't it be better if you did it yourself? While I don't sell myself short, my lord is much more suited for the cloak and dagger sort of thing."-Shen Yun-

Vacio cringed at the 'my lord' but decided to endure it for now.

"While that is true, I have to make preparations for a few events that will be happening today"-Vacio-

"What do you mean by 'events' my lord?"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun looked at Vacio with great interest.

"I'm mostly going to vent my frustrations on others. That Sword Saint asshole destroyed my weapons and armor, so he's already high on my shit list. I'll have him experience a bit of torture for that"-Vacio-

"I see… If that is what my master desires, then I shall obey"-Shen Yun-

Shen Yun bowed like the maid that she was roleplaying as and quickly left the room.

After Vacio battle with KiriClone's group and finishing his business in the toilet, Vacio was quite shocked how badly damaged his gear was. One side of his mace was completely flat and the shaft was about 45 degrees from its original position. His armor was disfigured and full of holes.

While such things were expected due to how outdated his armor was (it was the same armor he wore during the martial arts tournament), he could help but feel that his craftsman pride took a painful hit to the balls.

Now he had to make a new set of everything from scratch!

Mind you, he had tons of spare weapons and armors in his inventory, but what's there's no point if he didn't have the strongest items at his disposal!

Call it gamer's pride.

And thus, aside from venting his frustration at the bastard that wrecked his items, he also needed to craft the best armor he could make at the moment. He also needed to consider the items that would fit with the next class in his Versi Tank build.

After that fight with KiriClone and his whores, Vacio gained 1 level and was nearly able to gain another one.

Just a few more EXPs till he could finaly start calling himself a Tank in the truest sense!

He was practically drooling in desire to reach the next level.

Thus, he wanted EXP more than anything!

He wasn't sure if the events he was forcing would net him any EXP, but he wanted to get to the next level badly. It was an experiement if he could actually force quests into his hand or not.

If EXP was earned after this experiment, then good.

If not, then damn it all.

For now, he made preparations for the first step of his venting bonanza.

While Shen Yun was off hunting down the merchant, Vacio took out his mad chemist kit and made some very disturbing alchemic potions in order to make the main cause of his stomach ache suffer greatly.

" _So you think you can just trap me inside the toilet and get away with it?! Fat chance asshole!"_ -Vacio-

-:-

A few hours later

Lunch Time

A heavy atmosphere lingered over the dining table.

On one part of the table was the Qing family with Qing Ho, Qing La (wife of Qing Ho) and Qing Yue. While the three tried their best to eat normally, it was easy to tell that they really rather be not in their current position.

This went triple for Qing Yue.

To the little lady, the person sitting just across the table was a monster that took all of the punishment the Sword Saint's party could dish out and walked it off like it was nothing. And since that monster knew perfectly well who she was and what she has done, Qing Yue had every right to be scared out of her wits.

Qing Ho ang Qing La had this particular worry though in a lesser degree. The couple knew that Vacio wont harm Qing Yue out of obligation. However, that cant be said to the Sword Saint's party. They could only pray that they could convince Vacio to keep the punishment to the absolute minimum.

That's the couple's biggest worry. Their minor worry was standing right behind Vacio.

"Er…. Can I ask you something Vacio?"-Qing Ho-

"Sure. Go ahead."-Vacio-

"This may be rude of me, but why is lady Shen Yun standing behind you like she's a servant?"-Qing Ho-

Vacio let lose a defeated sigh.

A few minutes before lunch began, Shen Yun went to the kitchen and shoved down whatever food she could find down her throat as fast as possible. She then proceeded to the dinning hall and stood behind Vacio in an attempt to mimic the other servants in the room.

Naturally, everyone was confused as to her action.

Yet another headache Vacio had to deal with

"She took a liking to the whole servant gig and decided that she wanted to do it too…. *sigh*…. Just let her do what she wants okay? She'll eventually get bored of it and move to something else."-Vacio-

"…I see…"-Qing Ho-

Everyone made a difficult expression at this revelation.

While Shen Yun had shown some decent capabilities as a maid, the professionals were obviously leagues above her in terms of poise and skill.

The professional servants could lodge their complaints. Having a wanabe among their ranks would definitely cause some disruption on their otherwise flawless work. However, all of the servants kept their complaints to themselves.

This was because Shen Yun could easily rip them to shreds. Literally.

They also knew that that the young lady was extremely volatile and she could easily go in a fit of rage at the slightest provocation. It wasn't the first time they were forced to serve a lunatic after all.

Thanks to all their past experiences, the servants instinctively knew that silence and patience were the only means to get through this predicament with all limbs attached.

Everyone in the dinning hall reached a silent agreement. Whatever weirdness perpetrated by Shen Yun, they would do their best to ignore it.

With that set in stone, lunch began in earnest.

The servant skillfully placed the food in front of Vacio and the City Lord's family without a single mistake.

Shen Yun made sure to stay out of the servants' way while she observed their work.

An impressive feast was laid out in front of Vacio. Despite the appetizing spread, his stomach was twisting in protest of the idea that he had to eat any of it.

Yesterday's experience and the info gained from the Illuminati made him doubly unwilling to even look at the food.

However, he decided to endure in order to extract revenge for the asshole that has caused him so much bowel pain.

When the servants finished bringing out all of the food, Vacio went to work.

He took a large stack of wooden straws. Each of them had a white strip paper wrapped around half its length.

He then plunged a single stick to every food in front of him.

Naturally, everyone in the room was confused at Vacio's action.

"Er…. Vacio? What are you doing?"-Qing Ho-

"Don't mind me. Just eat like normal."-Vacio-

The Qing family threw a confused look at each other before proceeding to eat in silence.

Vacio observed his food in silence for 30 seconds then pulled out the sticks one by one. Each of the paper turned from white to green.

"Wow…. They didn't bother hiding it this time around huh…"-Vacio-

Everyone in the room looked at Vacio with curiosity.

"Is there something wrong?"-Qing Ho-

"Hmmm… maybe."-Vacio-

Vacio turned his gaze to a servant who seemed to be at his late teens

"Your name is Lu, right? Can you help me with something"-Vacio-

"Of course."-Lu-

While servant Lu's words were filled with calm, Vacio's 'Detect Heartbeat' skill told him that Lu's heart rate spiked.

Vacio was laughing internally as he observed Lu.

"What can I do for you my lord?"-Lu-

"Can you please taste the food?"-Vacio-

"… Er… Why? Is the food inadequate? If that's the case, I will remove the dishes post haste"-Lu-

"Oh no no no. The food is fine. I just want YOU to taste it."-Vacio-

Color began draining from Lu's face. It was obvious that Lu knew what was inside Vacio's food and the young servant was terrified of it.

"Sadly I must decline. The food was made for you and you alone. It would be an insult to the chef if someone as unworthy as me desecrates the dish"-Lu-

"If the food is that good, then I must insist that you take a bite. I'm a generous guy after all. Go ahead. A single bite wont hurt anyone."-Vacio-

"I must firmly decline. Eating the food of the guest goes against what a professional would do."-Lu-

Vacio's insistence and Lu's almost frantic denial made everyone in the room suspicious. Was there something in the food that would warrant such fierce debate?

Unfortunately for the young servant, the severe bowel movement has left Vacio with no patience for subtlety.

"Shen Yun. Force our young friend here to take a bite."-Vacio-

Before anyone could react, Shen Yun grabbed Lu by the waist from behind and performed a perfectly executed suplex.

Shen Yun released Lu from her hold and moved towards his head. She plunged her small hands into Lu's mouth and forced it open.

The force Shen Yun applied on Lu's mouth terrified the young man. It was like metal clamps forced his mouth open and the pitiful resistance Lu made didn't even budge it a millimeter.

Despite Shen Yun being a girl barely in her mid teens, she had no problem holding the larger lad down on the ground. It as if a pile of soldiers was holding him down.

"If you please, my lord"-Shen Yun-

"Good work… and stop calling me 'my lord'"-Vacio-

"As you wish, master"-Shen Yun-

"Tch. Since when did you become so stuborn? What happened to the good obedient girl that I cured?"-Vacio-

"The cute, beautiful, obedient little girl became an attractive, stunning, faithful maid that would do absolutely 'anything' for you. It's a desirable upgrade no matter how you look at it."-Shen Yun-

"You insufferable… *sigh*… Forget it."-Vacio-

With a sigh of defeat, Vacio decided to proceed with his plan.

He took a spoon worth of the soup and blew on it to reduce its temperature. He then carefully deposited it on Lu's open mouth.

Lu kicked and screamed with all of his might. His resistance, while fierce, was futile against the two kids that were much smaller yet much stronger than he was.

"Keep his mouth open while I plug his nose. That will force him to swallow"-Vacio-

Vacio blocked Lu's nose while Shen Yun prevented him from moving his head.

Unable to breathe through his nose, Lu was eventually force to swallow the soup to breath through his mouth.

Vacio and Shen Yun immediately release Lu.

Panic quickly took Lu.

"P-please! Help me! The poison will kill me!" –Lu-

The entire dinning hall was shocked at this revelation. Most people already knew that there were some traitors amidst the City Lord's people, but they never thought the traitors would go as far as poison someone.

To make matters worse, they tried to poison a member of the Illuminati!

Qing Ho kept silent as he cracked his brain into overdrive. He devised plan after plan after plan on how to avoid his city's potential end

"Oh my! Poison you say?! How terrifying!"-Vacio-

The sarcasm in Vacio's voice was a clear indication that he already knew of the plot.

"I beg you my lord! Have mercy! I don't want to die!"-Lu-

"Begging for mercy already? How spineless. I don't mind saving you, but what are you willing to trade for your life?"-Vacio-

"If you save me, I'll tell you everything I know!"-Lu-

"Wrong answer. You will tell me everything you know. If I'm satisfied with the info, I'll give you this"-Vacio-

Vacio took out a flask of an easily recognizable substance

"This is an elixir and it is the key to your survival"-Vacio-

Lu tried to take the elixir but Vacio threw it skywards where it smashed into the ceiling.

"And that's what happens when you become hasty. Don't worry, I have another one…. But it's my last one. I hope you tell me something I want to hear. Your life depends on it."-Vacio-

Lu knelt in horror and futility in front of Vacio. It went without saying that the hands of the young servant was at the hands of the worst possible person.

Everyone in the dinning hall, especially the Qing Family, understood that Vacio's age was not a good measuring stick for his power, cunning or cruelty.

Vacio himself was completely oblivious to the fear he inspired. He was simply venting on the asshole that gave him the apocalyptic level stomach pain he experienced yesterday.

"Well then, let's start with the name of the poison you fed me yesterday."-Vacio-

"It was called the 'Weeping Widow' because victims weep tears of blood when they die"-Lu-

"Internal Hemoraging huh. Interesting. Next question. Who's the future corpse that hired you to kill me?"-Vacio-

"That's…."-Lu-

Lu was clearly hesitating on selling out his comrade. While his loyalty was admirable, Vacio had no mercy to those who try to kill him.

"Every second you hesitate is one step closer to death…. Do take your time. I'll wait."-Vacio-

Lu hesitated a few more second before suddenly coughing up blood. It seemed that the Bleeding Widow poison was of the fast acting variant.

"His name is Merchant Go. He was suppose to steal the Deathweave Orchid yesterday that was hidden within the caravan yesterday in order to give it to the Sword Saint. Unfortunately, you ended up killing the thieves he hired "-Vacio-

Now it made sense why merchant Go was trying to save those lowlives. They were probably his hired muscle in order to force the other merchants to hand over the Deathweave Orchid.

And from the looks of things, Vacio's presence made it impossible to accomplish the mission.

Merchant Go probably saw Vacio as a threat and decided to eliminate him.

Wise move.

Sadly, merchant Go failed to take into account that Vacio's defenses allowed him to resist even the most harmful poison in this world.

However, there was one thing that bothered Vacio

"Did the Sword Saint know of this?"-Vacio-

"Porbably Sword Saint is a kind and honorable young man. He would never do something so dishonorable as poisoning his enemies."-Lu-

"Thought so. I did peg him as a spineless fool. I guess I was right"-Vacio-

Vacio's rude words naturally attracted the wrath of KiriClone's most vocal cheerleader.

"How dare you insult Makoto! Unlike you, he stands for honor, integrity and loyalty! He treats everyone with love and respect! This is why he is loved by everyone and this is why everyone hates you!"-Qing Yue-

Qing Ho quickly grabbed Qing Yue on the arm and squeezed it just enough for her to winch in pain.

Qing Yue realized what she has done and sat silently sat back on her chair.

"I do apologize for my daughter's outburst. It is the characteristic of the youth to spout nonsense. I do hope you don't take it into heart."-Qing Ho-

While Qing Ho was as smooth as silk, Vacio could tell that he was terrified beyond hell.

Vacio wasn't particularly bothered by Qing Yue's words. As an old man in a young kids body, Vacio knew very well that kids use their hearts to think rather than their brains. Being stupid was the byproduct of the lack of life experience.

Kids being stupid was forgivable to a certain degree.

However, Vacio decided to annoy Qing Yue a bit.

Why?

Just for the heck of it!

"Don't worry about it Qing Ho. I wont touch your daughter just because of a few careless words. I did promise to keep her safe."-Vacio-

"Thank you for your understanding"-Qing Ho-

"However... I can redirect desire to rip your daughter apart to someone else"-Vacio-

The dinning room plunged into subzero temperatures.

Vacio's focused his eyes on servant Lu and gave the young man the most terrifying smile he had ever seen.

"I was going to spare your life but my foul mood made me decide against it. Thank Qing Yue for that."-Vacio-

"Wait! Please! I told you everything I know! You promi-"-Lu-

Suddenly, Lu threw up a large amount of blood. Red tears trickled from his eyes as the last plea for his life failed to leave his mouth.

"Wow. Dead already? I guess this Weeping Widow poison is fairly strong stuff"-Vacio-

Vacio checked Lu's pulse, eyes and mouth like how a doctor checked his patient.

"I guess that's that. Time to move to the next phase of the plan"-Vacio-

Vacio took the servant's corpse and carried it over his shoulders. He and Shen Yun made a beeline for the exit.

"P-Please wait a moment! May I ask where are you going? And what do you mean by 'next phase of the plan'?"-Qing Ho-

Vacio stopped on his tracks.

Truth be told, he said 'next phase of the plan' at the heat of the moment. All the cloack and dagger events that have been happening as of late gave Vacio the weird impression that he was in a James Bond novel.

Vacio belonged to the generation that loved reading very much, thus the opportunity to act like one of his favorite characters was something he couldn't pass on.

Thus he was stuck in an akward situation, because he has no plan at all.

Okay… maybe that was a bit innacurate.

He did have some stuff he wanted to do, but it was nothing you could call 'part of the master plan' sort of activity.

In an attempt to not look stupid, Vacio decided to tell Qing Ho his 'plan'

"Just short trip to servant Lu's room. If I find what I'm looking for there, I'll go have a little 'talk' with the Sword Saint and his whores. If I don't find what I'm looking for, I'll go ahead and 'talk' with the Sword Saint's group… though it would involve a little more... discomfort."-Vacio-

Vacio and Shen Yun left the dinning hall and had one of the City Lord's staff lead them to servant Lu's room. At the time, Qing Ho and Qing Yue chased after Vacio and Shen Yun with Qing Ho desperately trying to convice Vacio not to do anything rash.

Vacio kept silent as he had one of the City Lord's staff lead them to Lu's room.

Lu's room was a standard quarter similar to all of the servants of the City Lord.

Vacio activated his 'Spot' skill, one of the many role playing skill of the Trickster that was shared by the Thief class which was often used to detect traps, footprints and other hard to see items.

Using the Spot Skill, Vacio could easily spot Lu's footprints despite being invisible to the naked eye. He could tell where Lu often walked around, which part of the room he often stood at among many other things.

It was an amazing skill when it came to RP events.

Vacio then noticed near the ceiling. There was a part of the wall that was ever so slightly misaligned from the rest of the otherwise smooth surface.

Vacio took a nearby chair and stood on it in order to reach the suspicious part of the wall. Sadly, his current body was way too short to reach it.

True enough, Lu had a fair bit of height on him and Vacio had the body of a 14 year old brat.

With a dry laugh, Vacio used the grappling hook hidden within his left sleave to pull himself near the ceiling.

Everyone watched in confusion as Vacio did what he had to do.

Vacio removed a small part of the wall and exposed a small fist sized hole forcefully burrowed into the wall. Inside the hole was a half full potion bottle that contained a jet black liquid.

"What is that?"-Qing Ho-

"This is the Weeping Widow poison. Want a taste?"-Vacio-

"I'll have to decline on that"-Qing Ho-

Vacio transferred the contents of the bottle into a potion bottle of his own and stored it in his inventory.

"Alright. With that done, let's head to the prison cells."-Vacio-

The City Lord's mansion was fairly large, thus it took them about 10 minutes till they reached the VIP prison cells. Unlike the dungeon, the VIP prison cells were very comfortable filled with all the necessities a rich slob could possibly want.

Never the less, the cells were still prison cells in design and function.

Even with all the comfort within the cells, the solid bars allowed no privacy.

Before the group entered the claustrophobic VIP cell area, Vacio stopped right in front of the entrance.

Vacio walked in front of the guard.

The sight of Vacio carrying the corpse of Lu made the guard sunder.

"Has our guests been fed yet?"-Vacio-

"Y-yes my lord. They were given the finest food we can provide about 10 minutes ago. They should be in the middle of their meal."- Guard 1-

"Good. We made it in time. Okay, from here on out, the only ones allowed inside the cells are me and Shen Yun. No matter how much screaming can be heard, no one else is allowed to enter"-Vacio-

The atmosphere suddenly plunged to absolute zero temperatures. Fear and dread spread to those within earshot.

"M-my lord… I know it is not my place to speak, but please don't hurt the Sword Sa-"-Qing Ho-

Vacio suddenly grabbed Qing Ho and whispered to his ear.

"I will tell you everything what will transpire later. One thing is for sure, no one will get hurt. What I am about to do is purely psychological torture with a bit of drugs that are completely harmless. That much I assure you."-Vacio-

Qing Ho looked at Vacio with an extremely worried expression.

The Sword Saint was a super VIP in the Dragon Empire. There was hell to pay if something bad happened to him.

"Are you certain?"-Qing Ho-

"Of course. Unlike you who failed to live up to your promise of a safe haven, I haven't gone back on my word. None of them will be harmed…. But they wont know that until I accomplish what needs doing."-Vacio-

Qing Ho cringe at Vacio's words but had no choice but to relent. He was in no position to even suggest anything Vacio.

With Qing Ho out of the way, Vacio and Shen Yun entered the small confinement area.

The area was circular in design, thus Vacio only needed to walk to the center of the area so that everyone could see him.

Vacio dropped Lu's body on the floor and silently went to work. He took out a large incense stick that was as thick and long as a sword. He stabbed it into the ground and used a match to light it.

It only took a few second till a thick puff of sweet smelling smoke enveloped the cells.

"Oh my god! Lu?! What have you done to my nephew, you bastard!"-Merchant Go-

Before Vacio could proceed with his introduction, Merchant Go unleashed his rage.

In response, Vacio took out the bottle that once contained the Weeping Widow poison and showed it to Go.

Go's face lost all of its color as his legs gave out under him. All of his fury evaporated so quickly that left everyone else in confusion.

"I understand that everyone is confused. Fret not, I will explain in detail. But first, I need to make my introduction. My name is Vacio and I will be your torturer for today. Beside me is my lovely assistant Shen Yun. A pleasure to meet you all."-Vacio-

The word 'torturer' made everyone stiff as a board.

However, the Sword Saint Makoto reacted differently.

"Vacio…. A Spanish singular adjective that means 'vacant' or 'empty'. Am I correct?"-KiriClone-

KiriClone shot Vacio with a defiant smile.

"Absolutely right Sword Saint KiriClone! As expected of a spineless idiot harem anime protagonist, the very idea that you're so proud of yourself for knowing the meaning of a random word I used as my name is awe inspiring. Bravo!"-Vacio-

Vacio's sarcastic naturally pissed off Makoto and his harem off.

The way Vacio acted was as if he was better than them, thus it was expected that the natural response to such behavior was anger.

What they didn't know was Vacio was using this arrogant persona in order to goad them into carelessness.

Anger often made people stupid.

Now, it all depended on how Vacio played his cards.

"Well then, allow me to explain Merchant Go's reaction and how my torture method works. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask."-Vacio-

Vacio pointed at the massive incense stick in the middle of the room.

"This my friends is something of an experiment of mine. This incense stick's main property is to slow down poison into a speed of grandpa, thus allowing people to extend their lives long enough to administer a cure. This is my second prototype, so there might be some unforseen side effects here and there. Fortunately, you people are here to test it out! Thank you for your cooperation."-Vacio-

"Then I assume you're going to poison us? What makes you think that the City Lord would allow it? Do you not know who Makoto is?! He is the Sword Saint! He is the Chosen One! The City Lord, the Dragon Empire and even the Gods will never allow anything bad to happen to him!"-Healer-

As the healer of KiriClone's harem stated, the tittle of the Sword Saint was only second to the Emperor himself in terms of influence and power.

Harming the Sword Saint was as good as having the entire Dragon Empire as your enemy.

While most people would shrink back at this knowledge, Vacio laughed at it.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You are absolutely right Ms. Healer! I cant harm KiriClone because I'm not strong enough to face down the Dragon Empire just yet. However ~ everyone else doesn't have the luxury of such protection~"-Vacio-

"W-what do you mean?"-KiriClone-

"Let's take the City Lord for example. While I cant harm Qing Yue because of her connection to KiriClone, his wife on the other hand was not as guarded as his daughter. A little curse here and a little poison there and VIOLA! I'm now the proud owner of Mrs. Qing's life! While I could kill her in one snap of a finger, but the thing that gets Qing Ho moving is making her wither in mind breaking pain in front of him."-Vacio-

Everyone in the room felt their heart stop as they listened to Vacio's words. It was clear that Vacio was much more evil compared to anyone they have met.

Naturally, Vacio was lying out of his ass and KiriClone's group ate it up without question.

Vacio was constantly fighting to keep himself from laughing. The very idea that they believed such a blatant lie so easily was hilarious beyond words.

On the other hand, Shen Yun giggled light heartedly at the hilarious display of idiocy in front of her.

A beautiful and sweet girl who laughed at the pain and suffering of others somehow added more legitimacy to Vacio's statement.

"Why would you do such a thing?! The Qing Family has done nothing to hurt you! Aside from that one clash, we never hurt you! This excessive violence is completely pointless!"-KiriClone-

Vacio made a dumbfounded expression

"You don't know? Seriously? Didn't merchant Go fill you in on his plans?"-Vacio-

"P-plans? What the hell are you talking about?"-KiriClone-

Vacio filled KiriClone's group that merchant Go used the extremely lethal Weeping Widow poison on him hours before he collided with the KiriClone group.

Quite simply, Vacio was the victim of an unprovoked attack.

"I-I never allowed such a thing! I would never do something as dishonorable as that!"-KiriClone-

"Hahaha! So what?! You think you can just waltz into this world and become a hero without any consequence?! Did you seriously believe that your immune to the fall out of the stupid things your subordinates do under your name?! Well guess what dumbshit, as long as it is done under your name, you are at fault! That's what it means when every decision you make matters! Congratulations dumbshit, you now truly understand what it means to be a protagonist of a story! Savor shouldering the collateral hatred made by every good thing you do! Enjoy!"-Vacio-

Color drained from KiriClone's face as he repeteadly said 'It's not my fault' over and over again.

KiriClone shrank back under Vacio's cold and unforgiving sneer.

"As the hero of this story, it's only right that I, one of the enemies you unintentionally made, make you suffer the same pain I experienced yesterday. Did you enjoy the Weeping Widow poison I mixed in with your meals?"-Vacio-

""WHAT?!""-KiriClone group-

"Okay that was a lie…."-Vacio-

KiriClone's group breath a sigh of relief… which didn't last for more than a few seconds.

"In truth, only Sword Saint KiriClone was spared from the whole poisoned food plan. The rest will experience the Weeping Widow poison in all of its glory"-Vacio-

Once again, shock and horror spread through out the group.

At this point, Shen Yun could no longer hold it in and laughed at full force.

"Of course, I am not unreasonable. Here is my proposition. Tell me the location where the girl you're trying to help. In return, I will give all of you the antidote. Pretty good deal, right?"-Vacio-

Silence spread through KiriClone's group.

A few seconds later, KiriClone spoke in an unsure voice.

"What will you do to her if we told you where she is."-KiriClone-

"A simple question with a simple answer. I will eliminate the source of our conflict."-Vacio-

Once again, a tense silence enveloped the room.

Vacio specifically worded his statement in a way that misunderstanding would definitely happen. He never said that he would 'kill' the girl in question, only 'eliminate' the source of the problem.

Due to Vacio's vague wordings, KiriClone's group assumed that in order to save themselves, they had to betray the girl that they wanted to save.

It was quite fun to watch them squirm.

Vacio decided to toss a bit of fuel into the fire before he retired for the day.

"The difference between you and me is the fact that I know what is important to me. If I am forced to make a choice between Shen Yun and an entire city of innocent civilians, I would choose Shen Yun without question. Think carefuly KiriClone. Trying to save them all is the best way to lose them all."-Vacio-

As Vacio turned for the exit….

"Wait! Please wait! Do you swear to the Gods that you will cure us if I reveal the girl's current location?"-Merchant Go-

"As long as you tell me the truth, then all of you are as good as healed"-Vacio-

"What are you doing Go?!"-Warrior-

"Saving your damn lives you stupid kids! I don't care if you hate me later, but I rather be hated than lose my life!"-Merchant Go-

More complaints from KiriClones group was hurled at Go, but he decided to ignore it completely and spoke with a clear voice.

"Her name is Xing Len and she's currently hidden in Bastion City. It would take a week to get there but I can lead you to exactly where she is hidden"-Mechant Go-

"Bastion City…. Massive land area with hundreds of potential hiding spots. Perfect for someone who doesn't want to be found."-Vacio-

"Exactly. That's why with my help we have a better chance of finding them."-Merchant Go-

Vacio remained silent for a bit, then spoke in a cold tone.

"The correct answer is actually Ayesha and her current location is about 3 days via horse carraige if I follow the river. Her hiding spot is as small hut by the river side."-Vacio-

Whatever relief KiriClone's group felt when Go tried to misdirect Vacio was pretty much nonexistent at the moment.

"Y-you knew?"-KiriClone-

"Of course. I have the City Lord's wife in my hands. All I needed to do was make her scream loud enough to force Qing Ho to spill the beans. It was easy."-Vacio-

Naturally, this was not the case.

The info Malika provided earlier contained detailed accounts of the Sword Saint's escapades for the past month. Among his misadventures was his meeting with the 'princess' Ayesha.

Calling Ayesha a 'princess' was not accurate. While she apparently looked like something out of a story book in terms of beauty (at least that's what Vacio assumed based on the report), she held absolutely no power within the Dragon Empire.

Her status was actually something similar to a 'Hostage'

She came from a massive country called 'Desh' that was located in the south of the Dragon Empire. The Desh and the Dragon Empire has always been at odds with each other for as long as anyone can remember.

Now, why was Ayesha in enemy territory?

Apparently, it was out of desperation.

It was unknown by who, but Ayesha was poisoned by something that Elixirs could not cure. Even the best healers in Desh could do nothing against this mysterious poison that slowly sapped Ayesha's strength until she couldn't even walk.

However, there have been rumors that someone was able to cure this type of poison in the Dragon Empire.

And thus, Ayesha's father (one of the many kings in Desh) was forced to make a tough decision.

In return for Ayesha's treatment, her father was forced to become a 'pro-Dragon Empire' advocate in Desh.

While the politics behind Ayesha was interesting, the thing that Vacio focused on was Ayesha's sickness.

Despite having a large assortment of wisemen and lunatics from all corners of this world, the Illuminati could not identify what poison was used on Ayesha and who was the perpetrator.

And that's where Vacio came in.

However, that's for later. For now, Vacio had more entertaining matters to attend to.

KiriClone the bars of his cell and squeezed it as hard as he could.

Unfortunately for KiriClone, his build was that of a speed demon and rained weak but excessively large amounts of blows at his enemies. He lacked the muscle to do anything to the bars.

It was quite fun to watch him squirm.

"THEN WHY DO ALL THIS?!"-KiriClone-

"That should be obvious you dumbshit. This is revenge for the whole poison fiasco. Do you understand how painful it was for me to fight you while enduring the pain caused by the Weeping Widow? It torture to the worst degree."-Vacio-

Vacio made sure to keep out the fact that his extremely high resistance canceled out the lethal effects of the poison. It made him sound like a bonafide badass if he told the story that way.

The same effect could not be attained if he told them that he only experienced severe bowel movement.

With his modified story, he made KiriClone's group feel like shit and made them believe that Vacio's hate for them was justified.

"With that said, I'll be heading to Ayesha and take care of our little problem. I suggest you guys enjoy what little time you have left. Not all of you will be here by the time I get back"-Vacio-

Screams of hatred and pleas for mercy followed Vacio and Shen Yun as they left the confinement area.

-:-

3 Days Later

After 'torturing' KiriClone and his harem, Vacio wasted no time and left for his next target: Ayesha.

Vacio and Shen Yun often traveled light, thus it took only 10 minutes for them to be ready.

However, they were forced to postpone their departure about 2 hours due to 2 main reasons.

First: Vacio had to explain the Qing Ho what happened in KiriClone's confinement chamber

The sword sized incense was actually an extremely weak hallucinogen that caused symptoms similar to drunkenness. This included, but not limited to, stomach pains, vomiting, nausea, poor balance and loss of consciousness.

The incense was so weak that being exposed to the smell for an hour does absolutely nothing to anyone.

However, prolonged exposure to it was a completely different story.

Depending on how resistant a person to the incense, 15-20 hours of constant exposure would be the starting point of most people becoming tipsy. The feeling of drunkenness would get worse the longer a person was exposed to the incense.

And because KiriClone was made to believe that the incense was something that slowed the Weeping Widow, the effects of drunkenness would easily be misunderstood the Weeping Widow eating away their body.

In order to keep this illusion going for a few days, Vacio told Qing Ho to post guards that only hated the Sword Saint and his harem. This way, the guards would be suspicious of anyone trying to break the Sword Saint out of jail and would scrutinize everyone that delivered meals to KiriClone's group.

The second reason for their delayed departure was Qing Yue's insistence that she was to go with them.

Why?

It was to ensure Ayesha's safety.

As one of KiriClone's mindless fangirls, Qing Yue believed that it was her duty to safeguard anyone that KiriClone had his eyes on. If she were to sacrifice herself in order to keep Ayesha safe, she would do so….. or atleast that's what she said.

Turth be told, Vacio pegged Qing Yue as a coward, a damsel of distress and someone extremely prone to hero worship. She was the type that would become super clingy to hero types of man because she believed that her only purpose in life is to give brith to the children of the hero.

The documents that Malika provided for them also supported Vacio's theory on Qing Yue's idiotic mindset.

Vacio didn't want to bring Qing Yue with them, but Qing Ho's reluctant insistence and Shen Yun's reasoning was too convincing for Vacio to ignore.

Qing Ho was forced by Qing Yue to convince Vacio to take her with them. This alone made Qing Ho's words carry no weight what so ever.

However, Shen Yun presented a plan that could allow Vacio to accomplish his mission of stealing away Qing Yue from KiriClone.

Since Qing Yue had a thing for heroes, then why not show her Vacio's amazing side.

Shen Yun has been observing Qing Yue attitude and she has made some discoveries that made Vacio hate Qing Yue even more.

Apparently, standing alone against a party that rivalled Adamantine Adventurers while under the effects of a lethal poison, and winning was extremely heroic.

Shen Yun theorized that Qing Yue became conscious of Vacio as an ideal Anti-Hero. The guilt of betraying KiriClone was the main reason why Qing Yue was so determined to headbutt Vacio on anything.

Vacio took Shen Yun's words with a grain of salt.

However, if this was true, then Vacio would have to constantly fight the urge to bash Qing Yue out of sheer disgust.

Vacio wouldn't have to associate himself to such an undesirable person if only the Illuminati didn't need the money and influence of the Qing Family.

And thus, Vacio, Shen Yun, Qing Yue and about 10 bodyguards from the Qing family made their way to Ayesha's hidden location.

The 3 day travel was relatively uneventful.

There were a few goblin attacks here and some bandit attacks there, but all were slaughtered by Shen Yun with such ferocity that it made the Qing bodyguards look bad.

Qing Yue asked Shen Yun why she was doing all the work while Vacio simply stood there and did nothing. The answer she got was not what she expected.

Shen Yun responded that she forced Vacio to do nothing because if he was to fight, there would be nothing left for Shen Yun to kill.

Quite simply, Shen Yun was doing her very best to paint Vacio in an overly glorified light…. Without Vacio's consent of course.

During the 3 days of travel, Shen Yun and Qing Yue developed something similar to friendship. This was probably due to them being teenage girls in the same age group.

Around the third day on the road, Qing Yue also began speaking to Vacio in small quantities. 'Good Morning', 'Good Night', 'Nice Work' and similar statements were what was commonly exchanged between Vacio and Qing Yue.

It was a big improvement from the first 2 days of absolute silence.

Truth be told, Vacio dreaded to think what Shen Yun was telling Qing Yue.

Shen Yun's glorification of Vacio has already reached the point of fanaticism despite Vacio's repeated attempts of telling her otherwise.

No matter how many times Vacio forced Shen Yun to sit down and have some serious talk, Shen Yun simply said 'I understand' only to returned to her fanatic worship of Vacio.

Vacio wanted to raise his voice at her, but his Old Man experience has taught him that screaming at a child was a coin flip. There was a good chance that she'd calm down and rethink her actions….. or she'd end up believing that she has done something wrong and redouble her fanatic efforts.

What terrified Vacio the most was the fact that Qing Yue already had signs of having a similar personality.

What if Vacio accidentally created another Shen Yun after stealing Qing Yue from KiriClone?

…. Vacio decided to push this into the back of his mind for now…

He had better things to do.

-:-

At the end of their 3 day travel was a humble shack made of whatever wood that was lying around the ground.

While the shack itself was nothing to write home about, the ones that guarded it was the exact opposite.

There was one male and one female with deep red skin, large imposing physiques and was heavily armed.

The two belonged to the demihuman raced called a 'Rakshasa'.

The Rakshasa was the much smarter subspecies of the Ogre and it was the most prevalent race in the country of Desh.

Vacio has actually seen one of them before.

One of the leaders of the Illuminati, Asura, was actually a Rakshasa himself.

Ayesha was a bonafide princess after all. An armed escort was to be expected.

The Rakshasa guards stared down Vacio's group with a glare that could scare a ghost. True enough, aside from Vacio, everyone shrank back.

While Vacio's items were still in dire need of replacing, he was confident that he could take the two down if they attacked.

"Hmm…. Brave Kid…. What's your name and why are you here?"-Male Rakshasa-

Vacio stepped forward and performed a parade rest.

"My name is Vacio, an accidental enemy of the Sword Saint Kir- Makoto. The Sword Saint has a bit of a run in with the law and is indisposed at the moment."-Vacio-

Vacio said this in a loud voice in order for those inside the shack to here him.

True enough, a weak female voice spoke in response.

"Is he all right?"-?-

The voice was so weak that if Vacio would have missed it if he didn't amplify his hearing beforehand. This was probably Ayesha

"The Sword Saint and his group is fine. Aside from being behind bars, they are being treated like royalty. As proof, I brought with me Qing Yue"-Vacio-

"Ayesha, its me! Qing Yue! There's a bit of crazy events that happened since the last time we were here and I need to tell you all about it!"-Qing Yue-

A few seconds later…

"Please allow them to enter"-Ayesha-

The two Rakshasa's stepped aside and allowed Vacio's group to enter the shack.

The interior was nothing like the humble exterior of the shack. It was filled with comfort that was worthy of royalty.

On the fancy looking bed was a girl that was practically skin and bones. Based on appearance, she was at the same age as Vacio.

She shared the red skin of her Rakshasa guards but had short pure white hair and a more feminine appearance.

The most eye catching aspect was the 2 pairs of semi-transparent arms that were attached to her back and the deep black third eye on the middle of her forehead.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ayesha, a princess of Desh. A pleasure to meet you."-Ayesha-

Before Vacio could introduce himself, an old man rudely stood in front of him. Unlike Ayesha and her Rakshasa guards, the old man looked like an old sage from the Dragon Empire

"What happened to the Sword Saint?!"-?-

Thanks to his rudeness, Vacio's first impression of the old man was not a good one.

"What might be your name kind si-?"-Vacio-

"Shut up and answer you ingrate!"-?-

The old man used his full force to slap Vacio in the cheek.

Due to Vacio high defense, he didn't even feel an itch.

However, Shen Yun didn't like the old man one bit.

Before the old man could retract his hand, Shen Yun grabbed it and quicly slammed him into the ground.

The Rakshasa guards quickly entered the scene and was prepared for action. However, when they saw what was happening, they relaxed and stood at attention.

Looks like the old man was not well liked.

"Y-you filthy foreigners! Unhand me! Don't you know who I am?!"-?-

"I don't know who you are, and I don't particularly care. As to answer your question, me and the Sword Saint's party came into conflict because they tried to steal something that belonged to the City Lord. Me and my partner thought they were ordinary thieves and proceeded to stop them. Now they are currently locked up in the City Lord's VIP cells under the crime of theft"-Vacio-

"I-Impossible! The Sword Saint is the Chosen One! He is the Savior of the world! He was blessed by the White Tiger himself! There's no way he could lose to a filthy foreigner like you!"-?-

"Then the jokes on you, you stupid old man. The Sword Saint doesn't have the monopoly in power. I'm sure there's a lot of people who are much more powerful than he is. I'm a testament of that."-Vacio-

"Lies! Blasphemers! Ayesha! I command you to kill this heathen! In the name of the White Tiger I-"-?-

Vacio kicked the old man's head hard enough to knock him unconscious.

What surprised Vacio the most was how well received his actions was. Even the members of the Qing Family was nodding their heads in approval.

Just how disliked is this guy?

Vacio and Shen Yun proceeded to tie and gag the old man. The Rakshasa then threw him out of the shack like he was garbage.

"I do apologize for that. Bai Hu is a priest of the White Tiger and an avid supporter of the Sword Saint. He is also the only one that can cure the poison in my body"-Ayesha-

"Ho… I see…. No wonder he acted so entitled…"-Vacio-

"As long as the Sword Saint isn't around, he acts like that"-Qing Yue-

"No wonder he is so hated…. Can I kill him?"-Shen Yun-

"No."-Vacio-

"~Aww~"-Shen Yun-

The atmosphere returned to a more relaxed vibe.

After another introduction, the group went straight to the heart of the matter.

"Me and the Sword Saint's party got into conflict because of your affliction. In order to avoid future run ins with that annoying guy, I've decided to remove your affliction"-Vacio-

"Eh? You're going to heal her? But you said that you would 'eliminate the source of the problem'. "-Qing Yue-

"And that would be the affliction Ayesha is currently experiencing. With it gone, me and the Sword Saint no longer have any reason beat each other to a bloody pulp. What? Did you think I would kill Ayesha? Please don't put me in the same category as the Sword Saint who's only talent is destruction"-Vacio-

Qing Yue was taken aback with Vacio's painful words of truth.

While a kind hearted youth with a steely determination, Makoto was not particularly smart, unreliable and was often oblivious to the feelings of those around him.

Outside of combat, Makoto has absolutely no redeeming feature.

Qing Yue began reflecting on this harsh realization.

The discussion moved on without Qing Yue.

"You said cure, but Bai Hu said that the only way to cure this poison is to use the Deathweave Orchid to craft a powerful elixir."-Ayesha-

"Just let me try. You have nothing to lose and my service is completely free. I see no downsides on your end"-Vacio-

Ayesha and her guards looked at each other.

The male guard spoke up

"As you can tell just by looking, Lady Ayesha is in a fragile state. My main concern is that if her body can take whatever you're going to do to her."-Male Guard-

"No need to worry. It's a form of magic that allows me to see everything about a person or object. All that is required is for me to stare at her at close range for about a minute. Naturally, all of you can watch as I do it."-Vacio-

"Just stare at her? If that's the only thing that is required then I guess its fine"-Male Guard-

With everyone in agreement, Vacio activated his 'In-Depth Analysis' skill on Ayesha.

Ayesha bravely stared into Vacio's eyes as she blushed profusely. This was probably because Vacio and Ayesha were practically at kissing range.

While Vacio acted oblivious, he noticed Ayesha's repated attempts to kiss him and quickly chickening out.

Vacio was confused at this action.

They just met, and she quickly went into kissing stage?

Something was not right here.

Never the less, Vacio clamped down on his unease towards Ayesha and concentrated on the task at hand.

About a minute later, the truth was revealed.

"Tell me Ayesha, how did you meat that old fart and what did he tell you?"-Vacio-

"I met him in Desh about a week after I was poisoned. He said that his god revealed my plight to him and offered a cure. That part you should know very well. He also said that the Chosen One that would save the world will be the one that would heal my affliction and I would become one of his wives."-Ayesha-

Ayesha said this with a bit of girlish giddy befitting her age.

It seemed that she also suffered from damsel in distress syndrome similar to Qing Yue. The main difference was that Ayesha was truly in distress.

" _I see… so that's his scam huh… Talk about the oldest trick in the internet book"-_ Vacio-

Vacio couldn't help but chuckle at a familiar scam.

"Did you discover anything?"-Ayesha-

Everyone in the shack looked at Vacio with great interest.

"Yup. First and foremost, you are not poisoned. You are cursed."-Vacio-

""CURSED?!""- Rakshasa Guards-

While Ayesha's guards were making a ruckus, the young lady herself went through a series of emotions in barely a second.

From shock, to confusion, and lastly to disturbing serenity.

"Can I ask what you understood from your observations?"-Ayesha-

"Of course. First and foremost, the spell that's on you is called 'Level Drain'. It temporarily takes your power (EXP) and add it to the spell caster. Normally it's a spell of low success rate, but that could be remedied with a large gap in power (level)"-Vacio-

The Rakshasa guards were both surprised and angry at this news

"Who would do such a thing?! And WHY?!"-Female Guard-

"Based on what I saw, the culprit is someone called the 'White Tiger'. As to the motive, I can only theorize at this point so take whatever I say with a grain of salt."-Vacio-

While Ayesha was shocked at Vacio's revelation, the Rakshasa guards seemed to have their own suspicions that the old fart might have been a pawn of the true culprit.

"Let's hear your theory on the motive"-Male Guard-

"I can think of 3 possible scenarios as to the White Tiger's motive. It's either political, financial or ego based motives. Which one would you like to hear first?"-Vacio-

"Let's go with political first"-Male Guard-

"Ayesha is a hostage. The second she gets her cure, she'll do her very best to escape the Dragon Empire. But what if she fell in love with the most important person in the Dragon Empire, aka the Sword Saint? She then would become a willing hostage and the Dragon Empire could easily strong arm her father to do whatever they wanted"-Vacio-

As expected of the not-so-loyal fan girl, Qing Yue still defended KiriClone

"There's no way Makoto would such a dishonorable thing!"-Qing Yue-

"You're right. Odds are that fool doesn't even know that he's being used. That's just how it is with idiots that cant see beyond where to shove their cock into next. And I dare you to tell me I'm wrong Qing Yue"-Vacio-

Qing Yue could only remain silent.

While Vacio wasn't entirely sure if his statement was true, the Illuminati reports emphasized that KiriClone has walked in from one trap to another because he trusted people way too easily.

It seemed that Qing Yue has already experienced this personally.

"I see… so it really is that scenario huh…"-Male Guard-

"What's the financial motive?"-Femal Guard-

"It's a simple scam. Have you ever wondered why that Old Fart is the only one capable this particular 'poison'? That's because he and the White Tiger were the ones that created the sickness. The idea is that they infect some rich or powerful individual with the sickness, then charge them for the cure. Since no one else knows how exactly to cure the sickness, then the victims have no choice but to pay for their services"-Vacio-

The idea was similar to the whole Anti Virus business.

When an Anti Virus became too good to be profitable, the anti virus company would often make a new virus that can bypass their product. This way, they can milk the unsuspecting masses via 'upgrades'.

"True enough, the Deathweave Orchid does cost an arm and a leg. And that's just one of the many expensive items he demanded from us."-Female Guard-

"And what is the ego based motive?"-Ayesha-

"Oh that. The idea is that the believers of the White Tiger could cure an uncurable poison, thus it ment that that the White Tiger is awesome. People flock to the White Tiger and begin worshiping him. The old fart gets material bonuses while the White Tiger gets mindless peons to control. Fanaticism at its finest."-Vacio-

The Rakshasa guards and Ayesha nodded at Vacio's words.

The 3 have known Bai Hu for about 5 months and Vacio's words matched up surprisingly well with what they have seen. This made the 3 believe Vacio was trustworthy enough to put their faith on.

"Then, is there a way to liberate Ayesha from this curse?"-Qing Yue-

"Of course. There are 2 options on the table. The first one is dispelling it via alchemy or spells. The Alchemic option is a no go because the ingredients require is too hard to find. The Magic route is also no good because I don't have such a power. I doubt anyone in this god forsakened country has the power to do such a feat"

Vacio could have easily dispealed the Level Drain spell if he used his healer build. Sadly, he went for the versi tank build in order to ensure his survival.

"Then the second option is…?"-Rakshasa guard-

"Easy. We convice the spell caster to stop the curse. By 'convince', I mean 'rip the bastard into multiple pieces until he is in no condition to stay alive'."-Vacio-

A heavy atmosphere filled the shack as Vacio's words made clear what his intent was.

"What do you need?"-Ayesha-

"A place to work and a fair bit of back up"-Vacio-

-:-

3 Days Later

About 10 meters from Ayesha's shack was a newly dugged out cave where Vacio made a temporary smithery.

The beauty of Vacio's ability to access his inventory was the fact that he could transport thousands of tons of items without any problem.

And because of this, Vacio needed very little time to get his smithery up and running.

Due to his clash with KiriClone, Vacio's entire arsenal was either at its breaking point or completely broken.

His weapon, the skull mace, was effectively a pretzel.

His full plate armor was bent, broken and had holes.

His lether armor beneath the full plate looked similar to bacon strips.

Due to this, Vacio was forced to give his arsenal a much needed update.

While waiting for the back up Malika promised that would come, Vacio spent the last 3 days crafting.

And in those 3 days, he achieved 3 things that made him so infinitely happy.

First, his new arsenal!

After his battle with KiriClone, Vacio's level increased by 1, thus making him level 29. At this point, he took the 10th and last level of the Trickster class and gained access to the main reason why people like it in the first place.

At level 10, the Trickster allowed players to craft a special Trickster-only item: War Frame

It was a lightweight skeletal frame that was worn between the full plate armor and the leather armor. It gave Vacio small bonuses to all stats and was not particularly impressive or game breaking given how mediocre the Trickster's stat growth was.

The main appeal to the War Frame was the ability to craft and equip 'Extensions Arms' (shoulder weapons, back weapons, etc). These were powerful item dependent weapons with varying effects depending on which ammo you load into them.

The draw back was that all extension arms could only be used 3 times a day. No more, no less.

Sadly, a player can only craft and equip an additional extension arms once every 10 levels.

These extension arms were all offensive in nature.

Vacio's chosen extension was a shoulder weapon called the 'Potion Mist Launcher'.

Any non-damaging potion fired from the cannon was subjected to multiple upgrades such as a large AEO (depending on the potion), giving all allies additional buffs aside from the potion's original effect, applying additional negative effects on all enemies within the area and many other effects.

The main gripe Vacio had was how item intensive the War Frame was.

With his brand new weapon and armor set along side the War Frame, Vacio has effectively lost all of the iron ores he has built up over the year.

So… yeah…. Vacio had a bitter sweet feeling at the result of his work.

The second thing that made him happy was his brand new set of weapons and armors!

In order to match the class he would take after the Trickster class, his new set was designed a bit differently than his previous armaments.

His previous set was designed to inspire fear with black leather armor beneath silver heavy armor and a creepy Hannya mask.

This time, his set made him look like a nobleman.

His leather armor was a fancy navy blue trench coat that stretched all the way to his knees. Despite being a 'trench coat' it was as smooth as silk and had fancy golded embroidery.

His heavy plate armor set was made of metal that looked like gold. Its design made him look like one of those stereotypical knights in shinning armor.

It was gaudy and eye catching to the extreme.

Just one look at it and 99% of people would believe that the wearer was some rich noble's son.

The armor itself looked like it was more of a work of art, rather than actual armor.

His weapon was also similarly over-the-top fancy.

It was a golden one hand axe with angels as the motif.

Once again, the weapon belonged in an art museum than the battlefield.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. Vacio's new arsenal had high defenses with decent offensive stats. If you looked at the stats alone, Vacio's new set made his previous one look like paper.

But then again, his previous armor was a few levels obsolete, thus the comparision was unfair.

The last thing that happened to Vacio was that he finally reached level 30!

After his battle with KiriClone, Vacio was already extremely close to leveling up. The EXP he gained from traveling to new places and from the crafting he did in order to prepare for the upcoming battle was barely enough to give him a level up.

'What's his knew class?' you ask?

Let's save that for later.

Truth be told… it was embarrassing.

As Vacio marveled at the beauty of his handwork, a voice broke his trace.

"… I know I'm not the one to talk, but that's just overly fancy…"-Vladimir-

The black clad aristocrat walked into Vacio's batcave.

"Heh. You're just jealous of how pretty it looks…. And just so you know, you cant have it."-Vacio-

"That gaudy trash? Perish the thought. I prefer the beauty of black. It also fits with my whole vampire persona, thus that large shiny paper weight makes my sense of asthetics cringe"-Vladimir-

"Hmph. I hate to break it to you, but black is now mainstream. Gold is the new vogue!"-Vacio-

"What do you know about fashion?! You're just a snot nosed brat!"-Vladimir-

"I know so much more than your antiquated views, you fashion has-been!"-Vacio-

Vacio and Vladimir began throwing petty insults at each other for how wrong the other one's fashion sense was.

At this time, Hassan and Malika walked into the cave.

"That's enough ladies. We have more important things to do than bicker about fashion."-Hassan-

Vacio and Vladimir stopped their quarrel, but threw one last parting glare with the message 'You should be ashamed of yourself for being a fashion catastrophe'

"Well then, let's get on with a short briefing before we head out."-Hassan-

Vacio, Vladimir and Malika stood at attention.

"Thanks to the 'cooperation' of Bai Hu, we have discovered where the White Tiger is currently located. It's in a small cave down the river about one hour from here via horse back. Yokozuna has already went ahead to scout the area and has confirmed that the White Tiger is indeed there. All that is needed now is to make a tiger rug. Happy hunting everyone"-Hassan-

On the subject of Bai Hu's 'cooperation', it was more of forceful information extraction than anything.

While Hassan normally looked like a perverted old man, he was of the 'Mind Flayer' race. While he was severely lacking in the combat department, his information gathering skills was unmatched.

Forcefully extracting memories from an unwilling victim was Hassan's forte.

There was a small side effect of the victim dying, but that's just a minor problem.

With the info passed to the relevant parties, the Illuminati team along with Qing Yue and her bodyguards proceeded with their tiger hunt.

-:-

1 Hour Later

The combat team consisted of Vacio, Yokozuna, Vladimir and Malika (and her slave minotaur).

Hassan was never a combatant to begin with, thus he went ahead and returned to the Illuminati headquarters in Bastion City.

Asura didn't want to meet anyone from his home country, thus stayed in Bastion City and took the mattle as temporary leader.

Ayesha stayed behind along with her Rakshasa guards due to her weak constitution.

Qing Yue and her bodyguards were simply useless in the upcoming battle, thus they positioned themselves on a hill 1 kilometer away.

Shen Yun was with Qing Yue because the assessment of the White Tiger's strength was strong than Vacio but weaker then Malika and Yokozuna. Probably around mid level 30s.

Aside from Malika's minotaur who was at the early level 20s, everyone else was above level 30.

Shen Yun, who was level 15, was nothing but dead weight in the upcoming battle.

Vacio made his preperations. He activated all his defensive spells, drank all the buffing potions in his arsenal and readied himself for a fierce battle.

"Well then, let's start with some fireworks."-Yokozuna-

At the moment, the White Tiger was currently sleeping inside the cave.

And Vacio provided Yokozuna with the best rude wake up device ever: a large sack filled with a wide assortment of bombs.

Yokozuna grabbed the bag, and with the grace of an Olympic disc thrower, he threw the bag into the cave.

A millisecond later, Fireworks!

Okay… that wasn't accurate…

It was more like an artillery bombardment.

The ground shook like crazy as the chorus of explosions made the cave implode.

The Illuminati trio began moving.

Vacio rushed forward with his axe on one hand and a hand full of trick daggers.

Malika and Vladimir started chanting magic while the Minotaur stood in front of them.

Yokozuna disappeared from sight like the awesome ninja that he was.

Lightning surged from the rubble of the cave and decimated everything nearby.

At the center of lightning storm was a White Tiger the size of a house. Injured it may be from the rude awakening, it was menacing in every sense of the word.

" **WHO DARES DISTURBED THE SLUMBER OF THE GREAT BYAKKO! STEP FORWA-** "-?-

Byakko, the White Tiger, egotistic monologue was interrupted when Vacio's trick daggers exploded on its face.

Byakko roared in agony. Most of the trick daggers Vacio used were not purely explosives. That attack had poison, pepper spray, acid, napalm among others.

" **YOU BRAT! I WILL MAKE SURE NOTHING IS LEFT OF YOUR CORPSE!** "-Byakko-

Byakko lunged and unleashed a torrent of lightning fast claw strikes at Vacio.

Vacio blocked what he could, but the sheer volume of attacks was simply too much for him. He repeatedly took a massive amount of attacks that would normally turn anyone into confetti.

However…

" **WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU BE STILL ALIVE AFTER ALL THAT?!** "-Byakko.

Yes… not only was Vacio doing fine, he was actually in perfect condition.

Vacio was covered in a golden aura that made him look divine.

" _Damn it! I kind of expected something like this when reading the flavor text of the skill, but this skill feels absolutely disgusting!"_ -Vacio-

This was the effect Vacio's new class: the Masochist.

You didn't read it wrong…. There's actually a class in Yggdrasil called the 'Masochist'

Vacio wasn't sure what weed the developers were smoking when they made the Masochist class, but they did a great job making a class that was extremely unpopular with players despite sporting good overall skills.

Most people assumed that the Masochist was a joke class.

If you read the flavor text, no one would blame you for that assumption.

However, it was far from the truth.

The Masochist class was a versatile tanking class that had impressive survivability, good versatility and very easy prerequisites.

At level 1, the Masochist class gained the 'Pain is Pleasure' (PiP) combat stance. As long as the PiP stance was active, all of the player's defensive stats would increase by 10%.

In addition, every time the player takes a hit, there was a 10% chance that an aura would cover the player that would cause all damage received to heal the player instead. This aura lasted only 3 seconds.

The 10% defensive boost was subpar compared to other tank classes, but it was the proc skill that made the PiP stance a defensive juggernaught.

As long the PiP stance aura was active, Vacio was almost immortal.

Mind you, there was many means around PiP's aura, but that's a topic for another time.

Unfortunately for Vacio, it felt extremely weird!

Vacio has gotten used to getting hit ever since he arrived in this world. Pain was expected in the world of swords and magic.

However, the PiP's flavor text explicitly stated that 'To a Masochist, Pain is a fast acting Viagra'.

Imagine the feeling of getting hit by a sledgehammer to the gut and feeling extremely aroused because of it.

To a person with common sense, deriving pleasure from having his guts mauled made Vacio extremely uncomfortable.

" _GOD DAMN IT! I need to end this quickly!"_ -Vacio-

Vacio used the Trickster's shoulder weapon and fired a potion called 'Weaken Armor' onto Byakko's face.

Under the extended arm's effect, the expected 'defense down' effect of the potion, there was also 'increase damage received' and 'decrease movement speed' added to the mix.

While the Trickster class wasn't the strongest of classes, it was one of the best at deliberating enemies.

As if waiting for this…

" **Double Shock Wave Palm!** "-Yokozuna-

Out of nowhere, Yokozuna appeared beside Byakko and performed a double open palm strike into the White Tiger's ribs.

The sound of bones snapping could be heard by those nearby.

Of course, Byakko wasn't going to take it lying down.

" **YOU DARE?!** "-Byakko-

Byakko swung his claws at Yokozuna at a speed that the chubby ninja couldn't dodge.

Vacio launched his grappling hook onto Byakko's limb and used all of his might to pull the house sized tiger.

Thanks to this small nudge, Byakko's claws only grazed Yokozuna's tummy instead of completely gouging his guts out.

"Nice work new kid!"-Yokozuna-

Taking this opportunity, Yokozuna once again fade out of sight.

" **ANNOYING PEST! I WILL FEAST ON YOUR BONES!** "-Byakko-

Byakko focused once again on Vacio and rained lightning enchanted blows with apocalyptic force behind each one.

Vacio blocked, parried and dodged with the occasional counter attack here and there. Vacio's build made him tough and the occasional PiP stance proc gave him even more survivability.

He may be taking damage, but even Byakko would be hard pressed to take down Vacio.

Malika's Minotaur drove its horns into Byakko's side while he was focusing on turning Vacio into a pancake.

At the same time, Yokozuna appeared from above.

" **Body Slam!** "-Yokozuna-

Byakko was flattened into the ground from the massive force that crashed into his back.

From there, it became a one sided beatdown with the Minotaur, Vacio and Yokozuna attacking Byakko with reckless fury.

A few seconds later, the Minotaur suddenly retreated. This was the signal for Vacio and Yokozuna to do the same.

" **Choir Magic: Hell Fire!** "- Vladimir and Malika-

And then, there was an explosion.

It was like an extremely small nuclear bomb.

The shockwave blew everyone off theif feet while the intense heat felt like their skins would melt.

Vacio was actually caught in the explosion because he was a slow move character to begin with. However, thanks to PiP being active at that time, he came out of it without a scratcj.

At the middle of ground zero was the upper half of whatever's left of Byakko.

Vacio was impressed and interested by the power of the Chorus Magic. This was the first magic spell that Vacio has seen that was not in Yggdrasil. He found it interesting that Choir Magic was able to come close to the power of Super Tier magic.

And thus, the Illuminati's Tiger hunt came to an end.

-:-

3 days later, Qing Yue and her bodyguards returned to Flowing Rivers City to report what has transpired to her father.

Ayesha was successfully healed of her curse and would recover to her previos strength with about a weeks rest.

However, Ayesha went into hiding and refused to come in contact with anyone from the Dragon Empire. She was especially unwilling to meet the Sword Saint once again. Following Vacio's instruction, Qing Yue didn't tell anyone about this. She only told them that Ayesha began looking for a way to return to Desh.

The Sword Saint's group was released from prison and was forced to swallow a humiliating fact that they were toyed with. They were never poison to begin with yet they failed to notice this and suffered great emotional stress for it.

The most important thing about the end of this events was that Vacio unknowingly succedded in stealing away both Qing Yue and Ayesha from the Sword Saint.

Qing Yue followed Vacio's every instruction as to what to report back to her father. She didn't tell them about Bai Hu and Byakko's demise, nor did she tell them of the involvement of the other Illuminati members.

Unknown to Vacio, the seed of doubt was planted into Qing Yue and Ayesha.

They now viewed the Sword Saint as a fool who only saved people after being an unwitting pawn of more sinister people. He did more harm than good and he never realized it

To Qing Yue, the Sword Saint was a False Messiah.

-:-

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